The Ainsworth Residence
by Arnarkusaga
Summary: PLEASE NOTE: THE RATING HAS CHANGED. THIS FIC IS NOW RATED MATURE. Since people seem to like these little vignettes for the series, I thought I'd try my hand at it. Will post new one-shots in this series as I write them. The shorts are not necessarily in consecutive order, but they all take place after the end of ep. 24. Please leave feedback!
1. Setting the Record Straight

A sharp knock at the door interrupted their afternoon tea. Elias turned his head, but Chise shot up and was at the door before he could speak.

"Alice!" He heard Chise say in surprise. "Hi, what brings you by?"

Elias stood, allowing Silver to collect their dishes, and followed Chise out into the hall. Ruth padded after him.

"Hey there," Alice said cheerfully, standing on the porch of the Ainsworth residence. She held up a gift bag. "I heard it was your birthday not too long ago. I stopped by to give you this."

Chise stepped back to give her room to enter. "Oh," She said softly. "You didn't have to buy me a gift."

Alice laughed as she stepped inside. "Don't worry, I didn't buy it. It's a hand-me-down. I got a new one, so I thought you like to have this one. It still works great, I just don't need two." She looked up at Elias and chuckled. "That is, if your jailer here is allowing contraband."

"Die," Elias said gruffly.

Alice stepped past him, flipping her hair, and made for the sitting room without invitation. Chise looked at Elias questioningly.

"It's fine," Elias said. "I'll be in the study."

She smiled and nodded, following Alice with Ruth on her heels. The door closed behind them with a snap.

Sighing, he made for the study but stopped when he realized he'd left the book he was reading on the kitchen table and doubled back for it.

He could hear the voices of the two young women muffled through the door and decided not to intrude, but hearing his own name made him stop and lean against the wall, listening. He had a vague sense that perhaps this was a private conversation, but curiosity got the better of him.

"I doubt the bonehead would give you one of these," Alice said haughtily.

"I don't think Elias even knows what it is," Chise said, laughing softly. "He's not too familiar with modern technology; at least, not that I've seen. He doesn't even own a radio or a landline phone."

"I don't know what kind of music you like, but I have pretty eclectic tastes, so I put a mix of everything on there. If there's anything you like particularly, I can replace the songs you don't like with more of the kind you do."

"Thanks, Alice, this is really nice," Chise replied.

"So what did Elias get you for your birthday?"

"He saved my life. That's gift enough for me."

"You mean from the freak?"

"Cartaphilus isn't a freak, Alice. He was just in a lot of pain. Pain can make people do terrible things."

There was a silence, during which time Elias remembered a few terrible things he'd done while he had been in pain. He hadn't recognized it as pain at the time because it wasn't physical; it was inside his chest and stomach and gnawed at him as though trying to eat it's way out of his body.

It wasn't until after he recovered Chise and had a long talk with her that he realized the pain he felt in her absence was emotional. He was experiencing loss, grief, and guilt: three emotions with which he had been previously unfamiliar because he'd never felt them before. He was hoping now that he knew what they were, he'd be able to react better in the future should such feelings arise again, though he dearly hoped that they never would.

He had heard such feelings could cause a person to die. Before, he didn't believe such a thing could be possible, but now he was absolutely certain it was true. If Chise left again never to return, if she were to die, could he survive that? He wasn't sure. And even if he did survive, he would never be the same. One day of rejection was enough to destroy what humanity he possessed and reverted him back to a mindless monster, lost and devastated. If she were gone forever? If he never saw her face or heard her voice again? He feared what he might become.

Chise's soft laughter brought him back to his senses. It was sometimes difficult to catch the undercurrent of a conversation if he couldn't see the faces of those speaking, so he melted into the wall and shimmied under the door to find a shadow within the sitting room to hide in. He caught Silver's disapproving stare as he slipped under, but ignored it.

Alice was sitting in the chair closest to the door and Chise was on the couch with Ruth's head in her lap. There was a small, white, rectangular device with a accompanying cords sitting on the coffee table. This must have been Alice's gift. Chise was right: he had no idea what that was.

"I still can't get over seeing Ainsworth turn into that huge... thing," Alice began again.

Chise didn't respond, and Elias wondered what she was thinking. Her face was impassive.

"I mean, I'd never admit this to anyone but you, but that guy scares me when he goes all beast-mode. Weren't you scared?"

"Yes, I was," Chise said, and Elias felt deep sinking in his gut. Chise always swore he didn't frighten her, but deep down he always felt that he must. How could he not? Could she have been lying? Why? To spare his feelings? She was kind enough to do so, but the thought that he truly did frighten her made him feel... he didn't know. Disappointed? No, that wasn't strong enough. Disheartened? Disconcerted? Some sort of word with the letter _D_ in it.

"I wasn't scared of Elias, though," Chise clarified a second later, and the heaviness Elias felt evaporated. He took a breath, not realizing he hadn't been breathing.

"I was scared of the situation. I was afraid to lose Elias or Ruth, or Stella, or you. I was afraid Cartaphilus or Ashen Eye would kill one of you. I was afraid I would fail and I wouldn't be able to fix the damage I had caused. There was a lot fear and anxiety bouncing around in my head, but none of it was because of Elias."

She paused, and a shadow passed across her face, barely discernible, gone in an instant. Elias couldn't say what it meant, but it caused an unpleasant prickling sensation in him.

She took a breath and smiled. "I know who and what Elias is. I know he can take on may forms. None of them scare me. It never has."

"Really?" Alice asked in disbelief. "You're not scared of him? Not at all?"

Suddenly, Chise's voice rose in exasperation. "Why do people have such a hard time believing that?" She asked, throwing up her hands. "Do you know how tired I am of people asking me that, especially him?"

There was a stunned silence. Alice had backed away a little. Ruth even seemed surprised.

Chise sighed and held up her hands placatingly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap. Look, let me tell you a story, alright?"

"Okay," Alice said slowly.

Chise closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "When I was eight, I was sent to an orphanage for girls in a small town outside of Okayama. By that age, I was used to doing things by myself, so I just got on with it. No one took enough notice of me to tell me what to do, so there was no need to ask permission, I just did what I needed to do. It was enough to go on with, and I survived it fairly well." Her eyes went flat with introspection. "I think that's why I'm so bad at letting people help me. I'm so used to being on my own and doing for myself that it just doesn't occur to me to ask for help most of the time. I'm still getting used to that."

"I totally get that," Alice said. "My parents were blitzed out of the minds most of the time, so I was pretty much a street kid. I did whatever I wanted, as long as wasn't hassled too much. A kid alone on the street is pretty much a target for every lowlife looking to take advantage. I learned to use a knife to _my_ advantage pretty early on."

Chise listened sympathetically in silence and waited as if expecting Alice to expand upon her story. Instead, Alice motioned for Chise to continue.

"On my first day of school in the new town, I left the orphanage and walked to school alone. To get there, you had to pass the town center. There was a big ornamental fountain right in the middle, and sitting on it was a huge red creature the size of a double-decker bus. No one else could see it; they passed it by like it wasn't a giant nightmare looming over all of their heads. Oblivious.

"The… thing, whatever it was, was made up of nothing but tentacles, teeth, and eyeballs. Now, I was used to seeing weird things all the time and I'd gotten used to living in a constant state of anxiousness, but this was the biggest, creepiest thing I'd ever seen. It terrified me more than anything else had up to that point. I still have nightmares about it.

"I tried to ignore it, but somehow it realized I could see it and it began to follow me. It followed me to school and sat outside my classroom window, making obscene faces at me. It followed me back to the home and sat outside my bedroom window, licking the glass. It followed me for three months."

"Jesus," Alice said in an undertone.

Chise's face was dark and pained. "It constantly told me it was going to steal me away and drink my blood. It told me all the terrible things it wanted to do to me. It delighted in seeing how scared I was. It told me that as soon as I let my guard down, it would get me, and then it would lash out at me. It's tentacles were apparently covered in barbs, because it left cuts and scratches all over me. I stopped sleeping. I stole a knife and hid it under my pillow. I kept arriving at school and back home covering in cuts and bruises. People thought I was insane and hurting myself. They didn't believe that there was this awful thing hunting me and hurting me. No one listened.

"One night, I was so tired that I couldn't stop myself and I fell asleep. I woke up because I felt a pain in my leg and when I opened my eyes, I realized that thing had managed to get the window open and was dragging me outside by my ankle. My leg was cut wide open and bleeding everywhere. I used the knife to cut at it and it let go and disappeared. The caretakers saw me with a knife in my hand and a huge gash in my leg and assumed I had done it to myself. It was the first and only time I ever threw a real screaming fit. I cried and yelled and shouted and told the caretakers that it would kill me. I told them that if they didn't send me far away, I would run away myself. They thought I had lost mind.

"Did they move you, though?" Alice asked.

"Oh, yes," Chise replied flatly. "To a mental asylum. The doctors there diagnosed me with paranoid depressive schizo-affective disorder with a tendency toward self harm. They deemed me a danger to myself and others and I was kept in a locked room by myself for six months."

"Holy shit," Alice breathed. Elias was equally shocked.

"Yeah." Chise was silent for a moment. "It wasn't as bad as you might think, though. The asylum had iron bars on the window, which I didn't know at the time was keeping the bad things out. It was the first time in my life I didn't see things that other people couldn't. Being alone for once was kind of nice. There was no one telling me how delicious I was. There were no creatures trying to scare me. It was quiet, but it was a peaceful quiet. I thought maybe I was actually crazy and that being at the asylum was making me better. But then they released me, and all the bad things came back. The medicine they gave me didn't help. If anything, it made me feel more crazy.

"But you know what the worst part of that story is?" Chise asked Alice, who shook her head. "That tentacle creature was not unique. It stands out in my head because it stalked me for so long, but there have been many monsters like it trying to hurt me my whole life. Some of them succeeded, and some of them weren't even fae. Humans can be just as monstrous as the monsters."

Her eyes were dark, and Alice nodded knowingly. Elias felt disquieted. Chise often talked about her past experiences with fae creatures but was far less open about her experiences with other humans. Elias hadn't thought much about it before, but now he wondered just how much she had suffered at the hands of her own people.

"When I first saw Elias, was I surprised? Yes, of course," Chise admitted. "But I wasn't scared. Compared to that red monstrosity that terrorized me outside of Okayama, Elias was practically cuddly."

Alice snorted at the description. "Cuddly isn't the word I would use to describe Ainsworth."

"You don't know him," Chise blurted out, then bit her lip. Alice smirked at her and narrowed her eyes.

"You have weird taste," Alice said.

"Hey," Ruth retorted, lifting his head off of the couch next to Chise. She patted him down.

"No, she's right," Chise said with a laugh. "But weird isn't the same as wrong."

"I suppose that's true," Alice admitted. She stood up and stretched.

"Leaving already?" Chise asked, a little disappointed.

"Yeah, sorry," Alice said. "Renfred and I are running a new test at the college tomorrow and I gotta be up early. I just wanted to make sure you got your gift. Maybe someday soon I can take you out to lunch, though."

Chise smiled in return. "That sounds nice."

Elias used the distraction of Alice's departure to quickly jump through the shadows to his study. He rematerialized and sat at his desk, attempting to look busy and preoccupied.

He heard a knock at the door.

"Come in," he called.

Chise opened the door and Ruth followed her inside.

Elias attempted to be nonchalant. "How was your visit with Renfred's apprentice?"

"She has a name, Elias," Chise said, her hand on her hips. She wore a frown. "You know, it's rude to eavesdrop on other people's conversations."

Elias sucked in a breath. So she had known he was there. She was becoming very perceptive to him, not always to his benefit.

"My apologies," he said. No point in denying it. "I was curious." He tried changing the subject. "What gift did she give you?"

"Oh." Chise held up the white rectangle. "It's an MP3 player."

"A what?" He asked, baffled.

"A music player," she clarified. The white cord attached to the rectangle branched into two separate cords, at the ends of which sat little round objects. "You select a song you'd like to hear," she said, demonstrating. He saw a small screen flip through song titles. "And then the music plays through the earphones." She held one up for him, but then faltered. "Uhh..."

"Yes?"

"Do you have ears?"

That was an interesting question. Did he? "I am obviously capable of perceiving sound, though I am not sure from where."

She frowned again. "Bend down."

He obliged her, and she held out her fingers next to where he assumed he might have ears were he human, and snapped them. "Is that louder than normal?"

"No, but I think you're on to something. Try again."

After some trial and error, they determined he best perceived sound just behind and slightly above the bone that made up his lower mandible. There was a shadowy hollow there than may have actually been an ear canal. She held an ear bud there and pressed play.

Elias listened for a moment and said, "Ah, I see."

Chise smiled and put the other bud in her ear, and they listened to the song together.

"What a pleasant tune," Elias said as the song ended. "This was a thoughtful gift."

"Yes," Chise agreed. "I like it very much."

Elias straightened as Chise put the music device in her pocket. Chise turned to leave Elias to his work when he stopped her.

"Chise," He began slowly. "Is what you told Alice true? About my monstrous forms never frightening you?"

Chise sighed in frustration. "Again? How many times do I have to say it before you believe me?"

"At one point, you seemed to hesitate. Why?"

Chise was silent, and Elias thought she might deny it. She looked down at the floor. Ruth nudged her hand and gave her a pointed look. She sighed again.

"Look, I want to be as honest with you as I can be," She began. "The truth is, your forms don't scare me. The fact that you used to eat humans doesn't scare me. The fact that you're bigger and stronger and more powerful than me doesn't scare me. The fact that if you wanted to, you could devour me in three bites has never bothered me at all."

"But?"

She paused and sucked in a long, shaky breath. "But you did scare me once. You scare me when you do things you think are rational, when you act in a way that puts others at risk because you want to help me."

"You're referring to what happened with Stella," Elias said.

"Yes," Chise said, still avoiding his eye. "You really scared me then, Elias."

"I know," He replied mournfully. "And I am truly sorry. I did not understand then what I stood to lose. I understand now." He grew thoughtful and said, "When you confronted me, you said you thought I was different. You cried. I didn't understand what you meant."

Chise did look at him then. "The fae treat humans like they're disposable. Like tools to be used until they're no longer valuable and then tossed away. I had thought, because you were part human, that you would value human life more than other fae did. I was… disappointed to learn that I was wrong."

Now it was Elias who failed to meet Chise's eye. He hung his head, feeling guilty. There was another feeling there, one he couldn't put a name to.

"You don't have to love every human out there, Elias. You don't even have to like any of them. But people are not expendable. You can't use them with no regard to how it will effect them or the people in their lives. My life is not worth more than Stella's, or any other human being, just because you care more about me and less about them."

Elias was unsure he understood this. Chise was infinitely more important to him than any other human. He would gladly sacrifice every life on Earth if it meant saving hers, fae and human alike. Was that wrong? He didn't understand how.

"What if you had succeeded?" Chise continued. "What if you had transferred the curse to Stella and she died in my place? Can you imagine how her family would feel if she never came home?"

"I'm afraid I cannot," He replied.

"Don't you remember how you felt when I left you and you didn't know if I'd ever come back?"

"Yes. I felt…" Elias thought for a moment. The pain he felt when she left surfaced again and he struggle to put it into words. _Cold_ was inadequate. So was _lonely_. It took him several minutes of reflection before he finally decided on a word that felt appropriate: "Broken."

Chise's eyes widened and her lips parted. Whatever she was expecting him to say, it wasn't that. After a moment, though, she got back on track.

"Don't you think that's how her family would have felt? Losing a child is devastating for most parents. If you had gone through with it, you wouldn't only have killed her, but you would have broken her entire family as well. Some people can't live with that kind of loss. My mother couldn't. I barely could. Don't you realize that?"

He hadn't. Elias had not even taken Stella's family into consideration in his single-minded fervor to complete the ritual. His jaws opened in surprise as sudden understanding filled his mind.

"I see," He said in a wondering tone. "I see."

"Do you?" She asked him. She took his face in her hands and made him look her in the eye. "Do you really see?"

"Yes, I believe I do. Loss is a terrible thing to endure. It is not a feeling I would wish upon another." He huffed unhappily. "Is this what it is to empathize?"

Chise nodded.

"This lesson in human behavior was certainly hard-learned." He replied.

"Yes," She agreed. "It's one I wish I had taught you sooner."

Elias sighed. "I am trying, Chise," He said plaintively. "I'm trying to learn, even though it is difficult for me to grasp at times."

"I know you are, Elias. I wouldn't be here otherwise. If I thought you couldn't learn, I'd never be able to stay with you."

"I know." He leaned his long skull against her forehead. "Believe me, I never wish to lose you again. I need you to help me understand so that I can do better. If you are willing to be patient with me, I shall endeavor to try harder."

She sighed and smiled, planting a soft peck on the ridge above his nose. "That's all I can ask for."

"Chise," He said, pulling back to look at her better. "I feel an emotion that I cannot identify. I've felt it since that day when you discovered my plan and ran from me, when you cried and struck me. Can you help me understand?"

"Yes," She replied earnestly. "What does it feel like?"

"Guilt, but stronger. A cold knot in my stomach that makes me anxious and sets my nerves on edge. But at the same time, it makes me sad. Do you know what it might be?"

She considered him, hanging his head like a berated dog and not looking at her.

"I'm not completely sure, but I think it might be… shame."

Elias straightened and looked down at her, processing the information. "Yes," He said quietly. "I believe you're correct. I am ashamed."

"That's good," Chise said encouragingly.

"It is?"

"Yes. It means you truly understand your mistake and are capable of learning from it. That's a good step going forward."

"How do I make this awful feeling go away?" He asked a little desperately. "It is most distressing."

"Maybe you could do something nice for Stella," She offered. "Invite her for tea, or even go with me the next time I visit her family."

Elias nodded. "Both are fine ideas. I will do that."

"Good," She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tight. He draped his arms over her shoulders in return, nuzzling her head with his snout, careful not to snag his teeth on her skin.

From the circle of his arms, she looked up at him with her wide, lovely eyes. "Would you like to listen to some music with me?"

"Nothing would please me more," Elias responded. "After, I'd like to hear more about your childhood, if that's all right."

"Sure," She said, taking his hand and leading him back to the sitting room.


	2. The First of a Million

It was fairly warm spring evening. The windows of the sitting room were wide open, allowing the mild breeze to blow through. Inside, the occupants read silently while listening to the insects chirp a twilight song in the flowers outside. The relaxed, occupied quiet of the house was cozy and familiar for everyone, comfort in every sense.

Chise was already in her pajamas and Elias had discarded his robe over the back of the couch where Chise was sitting. It was close enough that when she laid her head on it, she could smell Elias's distinctive aroma, a combination of fresh-cut grass, the gale of wind that blew across the sea, and old leather-bound books. Ruth was rather thoughtfully helping Silver with the evening chores in the kitchen across the hallway, visible from the open door.

Elias had chosen an old tome in Italian that Chise couldn't read, and Chise was studying a book on the making and function of poppets. She was expected to create one for tomorrow's lesson. She thought she might make one for Simon; his coughing fits had been particularly bad over the winter and she was hoping to ease whatever malady with which he was afflicted. She wondered in concern what could be wrong with him if he had recurring coughing fits over a period of many years, though she felt it would be rude to pry, so she kept her questions to herself.

"Chise," Elias said without looking up from his book. "It's late. We'll need to be up early for our lesson tomorrow, as it will take most of the day. Why don't you turn in? You need to be alert and well-rested if you are to properly imbue the poppet with your will."

Chise tried not to make a face. _It's not even 9:30 yet_ , she said to herself. But she thought it best not to argue.

"Okay," She said compliantly, closing the book. When she stood, she tucked the book under her arm and started for the door.

"Leave the book, please," Elias said sternly. "I don't want to find that you've stayed up all night studying. Again."

Chise sighed. "All right," She said. She turned and saw he had extended his hand for the book. She walked back over and handed it to him.

"Thank you," Elias said cordially. "Sleep well, Chise."

"You too," Chise said. Without thinking, she bent to plant a swift kiss on the side of his face, the smooth bony surface where his cheek would have been, in the same manner as she did with Ruth every night before bed. "See you in the morning."

She turned to go, but stopped when he heard his voice say, in a wondering tone, "You kissed me."

Realizing what she had done, she turned back and saw him gingerly touching his face where she had kissed him, his small, white pupils dilated more widely than normal, pressing the red of his irises to the point of invisibility. Her heart thumped hard against her chest.

"To say goodnight," She said, flushing. She began to ramble in embarrassment. "I give Ruth a kiss goodnight every evening. It's just a habit. I'm sorry, I just did it without thinking. I won't do it again, if you don't like it."

"No, it's not that. I quite enjoyed it, in fact," Elias said quickly. He seemed at a loss for words. "It just took me by surprise, that's all. It was… very pleasant. Is this a common practice among humans?"

"In families, yes," She said. "My parents used to kiss me and my brother every night before we went to sleep. They kissed each other, too. It's what people do when they…" She faltered on the word _love_. "Care about each other. A non-verbal way of wishing someone sweet dreams."

"I see," He said. "Well then." He closed his book and stood to his full height. Striding over, he bent to press his cheek to her cheek in a caress. Since he had no lips, this was the closest approximation to a kiss he could manage.

"Sweet dreams, Chise." He stood up suddenly, placing a hand on his chin in thought. "Or, wait, does it lose it's meaning if I say it aloud?"

Chise smiled at him. "Either way is fine. It's just another way to show someone that you care about them."

"Ah."

They stood there awkwardly, looking at each other.

"Well, um…" Chise said, breaking the silence. "Until tomorrow."

"Until then," Elias said. Chise exited the room rather quickly and he heard her footsteps fly up the stairs. Ruth streaked past the door in his dog form to join her. Elias remained standing, staring at the empty space in front of him that she had occupied for another few minutes. He sat back down and reopened his book, but he stared at the page, unable to concentrate on it.

Up in her room, Chise plopped face-down on the bed and groaned. "Why do I do things without thinking?" She asked, her voice muffled through the pillow.

"What happened?" Ruth asked, jumping up and sniffing her hair.

She rolled to look at him. "I kissed him goodnight, like I do with you."

"So?" Ruth said. "What's so bad about that?"

"It's just…" She sighed in frustration. "We, Elias and I… things are always so awkward between us. He doesn't know anything about relationships, and to be honest, I don't know all that much about it either. I don't know what's acceptable and what's not. There's so much he doesn't understand about human interaction, and I don't want to push things farther than he's willing to go. I don't want to move too fast and confuse him."

"A kiss on the cheek doesn't seem like that big a deal, Chise," Ruth said sardonically.

"Yeah, but you didn't see his reaction. It was like I'd hit him over the head with a brick," She replied. "It wasn't just a goodnight kiss to him. It meant something."

Ruth shook his head at her. "I don't understand why the two of you dance around each other like this. You love him. He loves you. Why are you both making this so hard?"

"It's not that simple."

"Yes, it is," Ruth insisted. "It really is."

"No, it isn't," Chise snapped. "He never talks about himself. He never opens up. There's no way to know if he loves me because he wouldn't even know it himself."

"Chise, trust me," Ruth said seriously. "I followed after him the entire time you were gone. Elias loves you; he was completely lost without you. He may not understand the emotion, but that doesn't mean it isn't there."

Chise was silent. It was hard for her to believe it. He certainly cared for her; she did know that. But love? She could never be completely sure.

She sighed sadly. "I should be getting to bed. I've got a long day tomorrow."

Ruth puffed out his breath in frustration, but he settled himself down next to her and got comfortable.

"I wish you two would just talk to each other," Ruth said. "It would make things so much easier."

Chise kissed Ruth's snout. "Goodnight," she said.

Ruth licked her hand in return. "Goodnight."

The next morning, Chise awoke just as the sun crested the horizon. She had not slept well. She kept dreaming of different scenarios in her head, ones in which she told Elias her true feelings. It always ended badly.

Stretching, she yawned and went to her wardrobe to pull out her clothes for the day, and went to take a bath, leaving Ruth sleeping on the bed.

In the bath, she hugged her knees as her conversations with Elias and Ruth turned over and over in her mind. She wished she could do as Ruth advised and just tell Elias how she felt in plain words, but she didn't know how to even start. She had wanted to tell him what he meant to her ever since that day she flew back to him from the dragon's aerie, but there was always something that seemed to get in the way. She couldn't just blurt it out. She had no idea how he would react.

When she was finished bathing, she dried her hair and got dressed. Ruth was waiting for her outside the bathroom door, and melted into his human form so that they could go and eat breakfast.

Elias was already sitting at the table, reading the morning paper with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Good morning, Chise. Good morning, Ruth."

"Morning, Elias," Chise responded. Silver Lady placed an overflowing plate and a glass of fresh milk in front of Chise, and she smiled at the silky.

"How did you sleep?" Elias asked her in an affable tone.

"Okay, I guess," Chise said.

"She didn't sleep well at all," Ruth said around a mouthful of eggs. "She was too preoccupied."

" _Ruth!_ " Chise hissed.

Elias sighed. "Preoccupied with what?"

At this, Ruth was silent and looked to Chise.

"It doesn't matter," Chise said quickly. "I'm fine. I'm ready for today's lesson."

"Hmm," Elias grumbled, lowering the paper. "Perhaps we should postpone this lesson until you've had a good night's rest."

"I'm fine," she repeated firmly. She began to eat, signifying that she was done with the conversation. Elias, mystified by this odd behavior, eyed Ruth. Ruth shrugged and rolled his eyes.

"Very well," Elias said, folding the paper. "Meet me in the garden when you've finished your meal."

Chise nodded without speaking. Elias stood and made for the front door, though before he exited, he stopped and looked back, his jaw opened slightly, seeming as though he was going to say something further. He must have thought the better of it, because he turned on his heel and walked outside.

"Chise, this is ridiculous. Would you just talk to him?" Ruth said in an undertone.

Chise sighed. "I'll try."

Ruth shook his head and continued eating. "Stubborn."

Once they were finished, Chise and Ruth, as a grim, joined Elias in the courtyard outside. He wore his robe and held a bag with harvesting tools.

"We'll be going deep into the forest today to gather the necessary ingredients for the poppet, so stay close to me. Have you decided what kind you'd like to make?"

"Yes," Chise said. "I want to make a healing poppet, for Simon's cough."

"How thoughtful," Elias replied, pleased. "Very well. The first ingredient we need to gather is a generous amount of moss that grows on the north side of an oak, one that's at least 200 years old. The oak grove in the forest is a bit far. Are you up for a walk?"

"Yes," Chise said.

"Not too tired?"

"No, I'm all right," Chise insisted. "Let's get going."

The three of them began to walk toward the treeline, disappearing into it's branches.

They walked for a while in silence. Chise could feel Ruth's growing frustration and was trying to block it out. This is not what she needed right now. She was in the middle of a lesson. She didn't want to fail because her familiar was annoyed with her.

"Chise, are you alright?" Elias asked. "You've been more quiet than usual today."

"Yes, I'm fine," Chise replied flatly. She could feel Ruth's eyes boring a hole in her skull and she sighed. "Actually, I was wondering if I could talk to you about something."

"Ah, yes," Elias said. "I was expecting this."

Chise stopped in her tracks. "You were?"

Elias came to a stop a few paces ahead of her and turned to look back. "Yes. This is about the goodnight kiss last evening, is it not?"

At this, Ruth took off to give them some privacy under the pretense of chasing dragonflies.

"In a sense, yes," Chise said, watching Ruth.

"You regret it," Elias said matter-of-factly.

"What?" Chise said, turning to Elias in surprise.

"It's all right, I understand that it was unintentional. You don't have to be embarrassed about it."

She didn't deny that she had embarrassed herself, but balked at the idea that she was ashamed of her actions. "Why would you think I regretted it?"

"You don't?"

"No, not at all!"

Elias seemed confused. "Then what was it you wished to discuss with me?"

Chise's heart hammered in her chest and she was having difficulty meeting his eye.

"It's just…" She began, but failed to continue. Three times she would start a sentence, and three times she would stumble to a stop.

"Why is this so difficult?" She asked herself quietly.

Elias watched her flounder and waited patiently, still bemused. She closed her eyes, took a big breath, and looked up at him.

"Do you remember when I went to the dragon aerie, for my wand?" She asked him.

"Yes. That was more than half a year ago," He replied.

"Do you remember when I got back, before I passed out, I said there were things I wanted to tell you?"

"Yes."

"Well, we talked a little after I woke up, but I didn't really tell you everything I meant to say. I flew all the way back to tell you all these things, and I never really got the chance to do it. Part of it's my fault; I'm bad at speaking up. I'm trying to get better at it, but I'm so used to keeping things to myself. It's a hard habit to unlearn."

"I understand. What did you wish to tell me?"

Her heart was in her throat and her legs felt shaky, but she pressed on.

"I came to realize something then, after talking with Nevin and Lindel. It's hard for me to say it because I didn't know how you'd feel about it, but…" She stepped forward and took his left hand in both of hers, placing her hand with the ring on the top. She could fell his own ring under the fabric of his gloves. "The day in the forest, when I gave you this ring and asked to stay with you, I came close to saying it then, but I was too nervous to tell you the truth. I'm still nervous now."

"You mustn't be afraid to talk to me, Chise. You can tell me anything," Elias said, his voice soft. "I had hoped you'd know that by now."

"I do," She said, staring at his face. _Here goes nothing_ … "I don't regret giving you that kiss last night, Elias, because I want it to be the first of a million. I want to help you learn what it means to be a family. I want to stay here with you for as long as I am able. I love being here with you. I love it more than anything."

It was right there on the tip of her tongue. She watched his eyes for change, but he merely listened to her intently as if waiting for something.

"Do you understand?" She asked him.

He was silent for a moment. "I think I might," He said slowly. "However, I feel as though you have more to say. I'd like to hear what that is."

She reached up, and he bent to allow her to take his face in her hands. Kneeling so that they were at eye level, he looked at her with an intensely hungry gaze. If she didn't know better, she would swear he was almost begging.

Slowly and deliberately, she lowered her head and kissed the space between his eyes, lingering there, laying her forehead against his.

"Tell me," He said softly. "Don't be afraid."

She breathed a sigh across the bone of his face, sending a shivering tingle along his back and shoulders.

"I love you, Elias." She said, barely audible.

For a moment, she thought he had stopped breathing. He placed his hands on her waist and pulled her closer.

"Chise, I--"

"You don't have to say it back," She said quickly.

He pulled back so he could look at her face, his jaws open in bewilderment. "You do not wish to hear the same words from me?"

"Not if it isn't true," Chise said. "I know that emotions are still confusing for you. I don't want you to say it just because I did; it should be because that's how you feel."

He seemed to go into himself for a moment, as if searching for something. "How does one know they feel love for another?"

"It's hard to say," Chise admitted. "It can be different for different people."

"Then how do you know you love me?" He asked her rather bluntly.

Chise's head rocked back. Just how did one explain love? She'd have to try. She wanted him to understand, though she barely understood it herself.

"I'm happy when I'm with you and I miss you when you're gone. I worry when you're hurt or distant. I think about you all the time, whether we're together or apart. But it's even more than that." She put her arms around his shoulders and held him close. He reciprocated, enfolding her in his embrace, his jaw resting against her neck. "It's something you just know, in your soul. It's something you feel in your whole body. It's not something that you can put into words, not completely. It's almost like instinct. You just know."

"I see," Elias replied in a slow, quiet tone.

"If that's not what you feel," Chise said. "It's okay. You're still learning. Maybe you never feel that way about me, and that's okay, too. You don't have to love me."

"I don't?"

"No," Chise said, though she had to admit, if only to herself, it would hurt her rather badly if he didn't. "You took me in and saved my life. You're teaching me so much. You helped me become the person I am now. I'm so grateful for that. Even if you never love me, I will always love you for all you've done for me. Always."

His arms squeezed her tighter. "Emotions are still difficult for me at times, that's true. But I am learning more about it and myself. It's easier for me to identify feelings as they occur, and I have you to thank for that."

Chise smiled. "That's good."

"That said," He continued. "Much of what you have just told me explains a great deal."

"It does?"

"Yes." He released her and pulled back, so that he could look her in the eye. "I am most content when we are together, and I feel empty when we are apart. I worry for you constantly. When you are injured, I, too, feel pain. You are at the forefront of my thoughts in all things. I even dream of you."

Chise's eyes widened. Her heart felt as though it had stopped.

"I am unsure as to whether or not I possess a soul," Elias admitted. "But if I do, I believe it resides with you."

A tear unwittingly escaped her eye. It was hard for her to breathe.

"Chise?" Elias asked, worried. "Are you all right? It was not my intent to upset you."

Chise laughed through her tears. "You didn't. I'm very happy."

"And yet you weep?"

"People sometimes cry when they're happy."

Elias sighed. "There is so much left to learn."

She pressed another kiss to his face. "I know. I can't wait to teach you."

He lifted her up to sit on his arm as though she weighed nothing more than a small cat. She lay her head on his shoulder and hooked an arm around his neck.

"As always, I look forward to further lessons with you," He replied.

She smiled into his collar. "Me too."

"Should we continue with today's lesson, then?" He asked her, ever practical. "We can do it another day, if you wish."

"No, we should do it," Chise said, slipping down to the ground, though she did not release his hand. "I'm more than happy to spend all day with you."

If Elias could smile, she thought he would be. "Yes. That sounds lovely."

Hand in hand, they walked the rest of the way to the oak grove, with Ruth dancing around them in his pursuit of dragonflies, reflecting his master's happiness.

That evening, Elias watched attentively as Chise sewed the sides of the poppet closed, filled with moss, aromatic flowers, healing herbs, and a lock of Simon's hair. Chise decided not to ask exactly why Elias had a bit of Simon's hair just lying around. Ruth was at her knee, sniffing at the doll and the leftover material sitting to the side on the workbench.

"Good," Elias told her. "This looks well made. Tomorrow we will place this in a safe space, most likely the hollow of a tree, where the magic in it will build. Hopefully, Simon should feel it's affects soon."

"I hope so," Chise said. Elias held out his hand and Chise handed him the doll. He set it in the windowsill so it could soak up the moonlight overnight.

"I am pleased with your progress, Chise," Elias said. "Your focus and restraint are improving greatly. Well done."

Chise beamed at his praise. "Thank you."

"How are you feeling? Tired?"

"A little bit," Chise admitted.

"Not surprising. You've been working on this project all day. Making magical objects, even ones this small, will drain even the most skilled of mages." He lifted his snout and sniffed the air. "It smells as if dinner will be ready soon. Would you like to read until then?"

"That sounds great."

Chise stood and picked up the book on poppets and seated herself on the couch. Elias had moved on from the Italian title and had selected a new book in Greek.

He made to sit in his usual chair when Chise asked, "Why don't you sit here, with me?"

Elias paused. "Oh," he replied. "All right."

He settled himself down next to her on the couch and opened his book. Chise found her page and began to read, scooting close and leaning her head against Elias's arm as she did so.

"Is this okay?" She asked him.

"Yes," He replied softly.

Silver called them to dinner after about twenty minutes. Ruth seemed much happier and wolfed down his supper at an alarming speed. Chise was quiet, but she would often look up at Elias and smile. Each time she did so, he felt a swelling warmth in his chest. It was as foreign a feeling as it was a welcome one.

After dinner, Ruth, Elias, and Chise retired to the sitting room again. Ruth lay belly-up in front of the fire. Elias sat with Chise on the couch, her head resting on his arm. She decided to be bold and laced her fingers with his. He accepted it with no comment and didn't pull away. They stayed that way, reading in silence, for nearly two hours.

Ruth was right. This was so much better than skirting around each other. If only she could have had enough courage to do this sooner. She couldn't imagine being any happier than she was right now.

It wasn't until Chise's head started to droop and nod that Elias said, "I think it might be time for bed. You've done good work today, but there is more to do tomorrow. I hope tonight you'll get the sleep you need. No more preoccupation."

Chise reluctantly pulled her hand from his and stood. He was equally unhappy to release her.

Chise nodded. "No," she replied. "It's all okay now."

She turned, but he caught her hand before she could move away.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" He asked.

"Of course," Chise said, laughing. She bend and laid a lingering kiss between his eyes. He rubbed his cheek against hers in return.

"Goodnight, Chise," He said. "I love you."

After the shock had passed, a wide, bright smile lit up her face. She lightly stroked the skin on his neck just below the skull line with her fingernails. "Are you sure?" She asked in a whisper.

"Yes," He responded in a soft, tender voice. "I am certain."

She dotted kisses up the middle ridge of his face in joy.

"The first of a million," Elias breathed as her lips connected with his forehead. "I'm keeping a count, you know."

Chise laughed and continued to scratch his chin, which caused him to hum with contentment. "What am I up to now?"

"Twelve."

Chise laughed again.

"What happens when we reach a million?" Elias asked.

"We start on the next million."

"Ah. I'm looking forward to that," Elias replied.

She stood up straight and slowly removed her hands from his skin. "Goodnight, Elias."

"Sweet dreams, Chise."

"You're happy," Ruth said as he curled around her in her bed. "I'm glad. Isn't this so much easier?"

"Yeah, you were right," Chise said begrudgingly. "You can say 'I told you so.'"

"Why would I do that?" Ruth said. "I just wanted you to be happy and stop moping."

"You're one to talk," Chise said, poking him. Ruth rested his snout on her shoulder, and Chise gave him a peck on the nose. "Goodnight."

He licked her cheek. "Goodnight, Chise. I hope you have better dreams tonight."

Chise smiled and closed her eyes. "I know I will."


	3. Just a Bug

Author's Note: I'm sorry if the Japanese isn't correct; I used google translate for it. I tried to cross-reference it, but I'm not completely sure how well I did.

* * *

Fall had arrived. Chise had missed it last year, having been brought to the Anthill. A mere four days was enough to change the season twice, so she hadn't had the chance to see the leaves turn. She had regretted it, and looking out at the trees and the garden, she was right to. The colors were breathtaking. The air was crisp and clean and smelled like fresh apples. She inhaled deeply, closing her eyes and smiling.

She was there in the garden, wearing her gardening apron over a thick sweater, watering the flowers that were still thriving. The true chill of the coming English winter would swiftly kill them, but it was still warm enough to allow them to cling to life. Chise would faithfully tend them as long as they bloomed. She had already harvested the herbs and healing flowers, drying and storing them for the projects Elias had planned for the winter.

She stopped and scrubbed her brow, setting the watering can down and picking up the small wooden cup she kept on the shelf above the worktable. At the far end of the garden was a very old water pump that still pulled from a clean well on the property. She pumped the handle once to drip a swallow or two into the cup and drank. The water was bracingly cold and tasted like pennies, but it wasn't unpleasant.

She had done the bulk of her normal chores for the day, but she still didn't feel like going inside. Ruth was asleep on a patch of grass in the sunlight. Silver was doing a serious overhaul of the upper rooms and interrupting her had the potential to be dangerous. Elias had gone to London to collect some items and new books from an acquaintance he knew from Amsterdam who was visiting England for a short time.

She finished her water and set the cup back on the shelf, picking up the pruning shears to trim the roses, thinking to replace the withering ones on the table in the hall. She had never felt so content. She whistled a tuneless chirrup to herself as she worked, cheerful and unburdened.

Then she stopped and stood up straight, her spine tingling with apprehension. Things had been too perfect lately. With Cartiphilus taken care of and the dragon's curse neutralized, things had been quiet and peaceful for several months. Too quiet and peaceful. She had never known this kind of peace to last for too long. Something always happened. It had been that way since her father had left.

She looked around herself anxiously. The woolly-bugs were absent; this was their egg-laying season and they wouldn't return until spring. In fact, the yard was suspiciously empty of magic creatures and fae. A few darted here and there behind the line of the trees, but did not stray beyond it. Unusual.

 _Take care_ , She heard a voice say. It might have been her own. _Take care._

Take care from what?

 _You're being silly_ , she told herself. _Just because that's the way things were doesn't mean that's the way things are. Stop being so paranoid. Things are good. Don't ruin it by being pessimistic. Ruth would let you know if something was wrong. That's his job, isn't it?_

She looked to Ruth, still sleeping with his tongue lolling out, and smiled. She _was_ being silly. She leaned against the garden wall and sighed, cheerful again, letting the brisk breeze flow over her face. She hoped Elias would be home soon. She hoped he'd have interesting stories to tell.

* * *

Elias arrived back to the house as the sun was setting, carrying a box that seemed too small to hold all of the items he told her he'd be receiving.

"Welcome home," She said to him brightly, greeting him as be stepped though the door. He bent his head and allowed her to kiss his cheek. "Was your trip a pleasant one?"

"Yes," He replied, placing a hand on her head and stroking her hair softly. "My friend has been very resourceful. He managed to acquire all of the items I requested. The crystal flowers you gave me to give him as compensation was more than sufficient to cover the expense. He was greatly pleased when I presented them. He said it would take him a year to use up all the magic stored within. Thank you, Chise."

Chise smiled widely. "I'm glad I was able to help. When you said he didn't take regular money as payment, I was worried. I'd much rather give him a hundred crystal flowers than a pint of someone's blood or an eyeball."

Her black, cursed hand went to her own left eye, which once housed Cartiphilus's eye. The phantom of the original curse that now resided in her had gifted her back her natural eye, but it still itched sometimes, like part of whatever tormented Joseph was still lingering there, trying to break free.

This action drew Elias's eye and he said, "Ah, I'd almost forgotten. I purchased a gift for you while I was out."

"What?" Chise replied, surprised. "You didn't have to get me anything."

"I know," He said pleasantly. "But I thought of you when I saw them."

"Them? How many things did you get me?"

"Just two pair," He replied. He pulled from within his long robe two thin boxes. "Here you are. If you'd rather not think of them as gifts, you can think of them as recompense for the crystal flowers. I didn't realize how valuable they would be when I first gave you that teddy bear. I'm glad we have better options than offering body parts as payment."

She opened the first box to find a fine pair of silk opera gloves, red with a gold poppy pattern weaved through them. The second were also opera gloves, but they were simple, black, and made of cotton lace.

"To hide your arm when you're in public," Elias said. "You seem rather self-conscious about it, so I thought these might help. I know you only need one, but they must be bought in pairs. Or so the shop owner said."

"They're lovely," Chise said. "Thank you."

He nuzzled her head affectionately. "You're most welcome." He handed her the small box. "Would you be so kind as to put this in my study? Please do not open it. It would likely cause a mess, and it seems as thought Silver has spent all day putting the house in immaculate order. She would be rather cross with us if we undid all her hard work."

"Of course," She said, taking the bundle and hurrying down the hall to his study. Opening the doors, she found that it was mostly still in order from the last time they had taken it upon themselves to straighten it. Only a few books and other items were out of place.

She put the box down gingerly on his desk and spent a minute putting things where they belonged when a coughing fit overtook her. She covered her mouth to muffle the sound. It took several seconds for it to subside, but thankfully, there was no blood in her hand when she looked. That was a relief. It was probably just a tickle of the throat, nothing serious. There was still a lot of dust floating around in this room. That's all it was.

Putting it out of her mind, she ran upstairs to put her new gloves into her wardrobe, then sprinted back downstairs to join Elias and Ruth for dinner.

* * *

The next day was uneventful, save for the unpacking and distribution of the books and items Elias had obtained. There were quite a few, many of which Chise didn't recognize. To his credit, Elias did take the time to explain what they were as they worked to find practical homes for them. This was a celestial map that told you where things would be, not where the currently were. That was a burin, a chisel made specifically for carving bone and wood for the purpose of crafting further magical tools. This thing, that other thing. All of it was interesting and Chise couldn't wait to try her hand at it.

He told her some stories about how he had met this strange acquaintance of his many years ago, how Elias always used a glamour when they met, which meant that this fellow didn't actually know what Elias really looked like. It was for the best, he'd assured her. Better if Elias's true nature was kept from him lest he be bombarded with a host of unpleasant questions from a gentleman with a disagreeable penchant for procuring unique oddities. It didn't get more unique than Elias.

The man was a collector, he told her with a faint hint of distaste in his voice. Easily excitable and a little underhanded at times, but also reliable when it came to obtaining rare artifacts that Elias may otherwise not be able to find on his own. If fact, he had been the one to inform Elias that Chise was being put up for auction, having lamented that he couldn't purchase her for himself now that had a lifetime ban from the auction house, though the exact reason for this was never specified.

After lunch, Elias, Ruth, and Chise decided to walk to town so that Chise could buy some personal items she'd been running low on. It gave her a good opportunity to try a pair of her new gloves, the red ones. They matched her red sweater and green overcoat perfectly. They were soft and warm and clung to her as though wearing a second skin. She had no doubt Elias had bewitched them in some way so that they'd never slip off and protected her from the cold and the sunlight. He could be quite thoughtful when the mood took hold of him.

As they walked, Chise began coughing again. She stopped on the trail until she could get her composure back.

"Are you all right?" Elias asked, his hands supporting her shoulders. Ruth pressed his cold nose to her cheek.

"Yeah," She said once the coughing had mostly died down. "I might be getting a bug or something. It's just a tickle in my throat. No big deal."

"Perhaps we should head home, then," Elias said. "I don't want you getting sick."

"No, it's okay," Chise said. "Besides, I'm almost out of shampoo and hygiene products. It needs to be today."

"If you are sure," He said uncertainly.

"I am," She replied. "Let's go before it gets too cold."

The local shop had a limited selection, but she picked up a shampoo with a plain, clean smell and a box of tampons. They only had men's deodorant, so she chose one that didn't smell like cheap cologne. She found a few rawhide chew toys for Ruth. He had told her recently that he'd been having the urge to chew on things, like the legs of the kitchen table. This might divert his attention. She also found cough syrup, but decided against taking it. Elias could likely make a better remedy for her.

She paid for her items and met with Elias, who was wearing Simon's face, across the street at an old bookstore, purchasing an extremely large book bound in brown canvas.

"Did you get all the things you needed?" Elias asked.

"Mostly, yeah," Chise said. "They didn't have the hair ties I was looking for, but I still have enough for now. What about you?"

He held up the book he found. "Yes. I was most surprised to find a copy of this book. I had thought that they had all been snatched up."

"What's it about?" Chise asked.

"Mages, actually," Elias said. "A few centuries ago, a mortal man was given the opportunity to shadow a mage for many years in an effort learn exactly what we are. He been given a rare glimpse into the doings of mages. His book was eye-opening for the people of the time."

"Why aren't there many copies?"

"Because the other mages were furious about it's publishing and attempted to find and destroy every copy that existed. They almost succeeded; to my knowledge, only fourteen survived the purge."

"That couldn't have been cheap," Chise mused.

"Not typically, no," Elias said genially. "This book can easily go for thirty-six million pounds at auction, which I gladly would have paid. The shop owner clearly had no idea what he had, or he'd have charged far more for it. Five pounds is a paltry sum for a book that's even rarer than sleigh beggies. I almost feel guilty."

Chise almost choked. Thirty-six _million_ pounds for a book? What must it be like to have so much money that you could walk into any store and buy it's entire contents without batting an eyelash? Figuratively, that is. Elias didn't possess eyelashes.

Where did he get his fortune from? Did he earn it? Was it an inheritance of some sort? Or did he steal it? She couldn't imagine Elias being a thief, but she really did wonder how he could have amassed so much money without a proper job and little interaction with the outside world.

She shook herself mentally. Where he got his money was none of her business.

They walked back along the winding path to their house when another coughing fit overtook her.

"We really should get you home, Chise," Elias said, bending low to look at her face. She was pallid and pale, even though she smiled back at him. "I don't like the sound of that cough."

"I'm sure it's nothing," Chise said. "Just a scratchy throat. Otherwise, I feel perfectly fine."

"Even still," Elias replied. "I'd feel better if you were resting with a cup of healing tea."

"If it will make you happy, then," She said, linking her arm in his. "Let's get home."

Back at the house, Elias made Chise sit at the table while he prepared her tea. Ruth was eyeing Chise tersely. Silver patted her on the back comfortingly.

It was nice, but she found it rather frustrating. She was fine. Why were they fussing so much? A cough isn't that big a deal. They were really working hard to make a simple throat tickle into something dire.

"Here," Elias said, placing the cup in front of Chise. "Drink up."

Chise took a sip. It was bitter, but there was honey in the tea that helped make it palatable.

"Thanks, Elias," Chise said, smiling up at him. "Really, all this isn't necessary. I'm all right."

"We'll see," He said.

After dinner, during which she ate very little, Elias insisted that Chise retire early and get as much rest as she could. She sighed and grumbled at him, but kissed him goodnight regardless and went straight upstairs to bed.

* * *

The next morning, Elias woke, dressed, and went down to the kitchen, where his paper was waiting for him. Silver began laying out the breakfast dishes and pouring tea. He sat and unfolded his paper, waiting for Chise and Ruth to join him. It was taking longer than normal today, but he figured she should get as much rest as she needed. He was concerned for her health.

The rush of footsteps hurrying down the stairs met his ears. A human-shaped Ruth appeared at the doorway, distressed.

"Elias, something's wrong. Chise is very sick," He said, his voice in a panic.

Elias rose from his seat so fast that he sent it sliding across the floor. He followed Ruth up the stairs, his long legs taking the steps in threes.

He walked into the open door of Chise's room and knelt down next to her bed. He face glowed pink and radiated heat. She was sweating profusely while shivering at the same time. Her eyelids were half-open, her eyes glassy and over-bright. Her breathing was labored and noisy. He took off his gloves and felt her forehead.

"She's burning up," Elias said. "Why didn't you say anything?" He asked Ruth venomously.

"She wasn't like this last night!" He protested. "I didn't realize how sick she was until this morning when I woke up. I don't feel Chise's sicknesses in the same way I feel her injuries. It's more vague. She must have gotten much worse during the night."

"Her fever is extremely high," He said, his anger fading. "I need to get it down." He pushed back the damp hair from her forehead. "Chise? Can you hear me?"

Chise didn't answer right away. Her chest sucked in and strained as she struggled to take a breath. "I'm cold," She replied weakly. A thin whistling sound accompanied every word she said.

"That's the fever," He said softly. "I'm going to draw you a bath. It should help."

All she can do is nod. She doesn't have the strength for anything else.

"Stay with her, Ruth," Elias said.

"Of course," Ruth answered.

He went into the bathroom and ran the water. He had once heard that bathwater should be room temperature to treat a fever. Too hot and it would make the fever worse, too cold could send the afflicted person into shock.

He added healing flowers and pungent herbs, hoping the vapor would help clear her airway. Once the tub was full, he went back to fetch her.

He pulled back the covers and discovered that the linens were drenched in her sweat, her clothes completely saturated. He would have to get Silver to change the bedclothes. He lifted her in his arms and she groaned in protest. The fever must have been causing body aches.

"Ruth, please help Silver Lady change the bed, then wait for me here."

"All right."

Ruth dashed down the stairs to collect the Silky as Elias carried Chise to the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Very carefully, he placed her on a stool, rolled up his sleeves, and began to gently undress her. It was a mark of how sick she truly was that she put up no resistance.

The first time he did this, that first day she arrived, she fought him rather fiercely. He didn't quite understand why. The fae were perfectly happy to be partially clothed or even completely nude at all times. Chise didn't have anything he hadn't seen before, so there was no reason for her to be embarrassed.

He was vaguely aware that humans were far more guarded about their bodies than other creatures were and possessed a odd sense of modesty not shared by the fae. He believed there were even laws that prevented them from being nude in public. It seemed rather strange to him, almost as if a person's natural body was a thing to be ashamed of. Human beings were strange in that way. They always found reasons to feel shame over things that weren't inherently shameful.

He himself wore clothes mostly because he enjoyed it, feeling that the style he had chosen suited him well, and only partly because it would be socially unacceptable if he didn't.

More to the point, in some ways, he shared the human trait of wanting to conceal his body from the eyes of others. The form he inhabited now, the one closest to human, wasn't the real him. His monstrous form was that of nightmares and shadow, a thing of instinct that inspired terror in normal human beings, but that wasn't the real him, either. Truth to tell, he had no idea what his true form actually looked like. He couldn't remember what he had been before he stumbled into Lindel. He wasn't sure he ever wanted to learn the truth.

Once Chise had been undressed, he very carefully lifted her back up and began to lower her into the bath. The second her skin touched the water, she shrieked in alarm.

"It's cold!" She cried. "It's so cold! It burns!"

"Chise, please stop struggling, you're going to make it worse," He pleaded. "The water isn't cold, it just feels cold because your temperature is so high."

She was trying to grip his arms and pull herself back out of the water, but she had no strength to do so. He breathing was short and raspy. Tears gathered at her lashes.

"It hurts! Elias, it _hurts_! Please, get me out! Please!" She cried.

"I have to get your fever down, Chise, it's dangerously high," Elias said. "I'm sorry it's painful, but it must be done." He took a pitcher and dunked it in the bath, pouring the tepid water over her shoulders, which made her gasp with pain.

" _Please stop!_ " She cried with difficulty. " _It hurts!_ "

"I'm sorry, Chise," He said, using a cloth to sponge her face. "I'm sorry."

She continued to beg him in her delirium to pull her out of the water, to let her go back to bed, to make the pain stop. It hurt him to ignore her pleas, but he had no choice. Her temperature was the killing kind. Eventually, she calmed down and fell silent, though tears still spilled from her eyes, which Elias wiped away. The sound of her labored, croaking breathing cut him down to the bone.

 _Something is terribly wrong_ , Elias thought in anguish. _What do I do?_

"Are you there, wind sprite?" He spoke to the air. There was a flash, and before him, flitting around his head, was an green-winged ariel.

"Here I am!" It said cheerfully, but it's cheeky smile faded when it saw Chise limp and pale in the bath, her eyes glazed over. "Oh, no! Our poor, dear robin! What horrible thing have you done to her now, you awful mistake?"

"Listen to me carefully," Elias said in a stern tone. "Go to the Anthill. Find Shannon. Bring her here as fast as you are able."

"Not for you, Thorn," the ariel said haughtily. "But I'll do it for her."

"Fine with me, just _do it_." He put a snap to the order that made the ariel flee with a squeak.

Now all he could do was wait, watching her cry weakly in pain and listening the the terrible scrapping sound each time she took a breath.

After a while, he took her from the bath and sat her back on the stool, carefully patting her body dry with a soft towel, which is still uncomfortably hot, and dressed her in a fresh, light nightgown. She swayed on the stool, her eyelids drooping with fatigue.

He picked her up and carried her to his room, laying her out on the right side of his bed. He pulled the heavy cover off, so that she was covered in only the sheet. She was unconscious as soon as her head touched the pillow.

His chest tightened and there was a horrible lump in his stomach. How did this happen? She was supposed to be fine. The curse is being kept at bay. Had something gone wrong?

"You called?" A voice said from the doorway. The silver-haired fae woman wearing a white doctor's coat stood there, smiling.

"Help me," He said plaintively, both of his hands clasping one of Chise's clammy ones. Her smile immediately evaporated. The Thorn Mage did not beg.

Shannon entered the room and looked down at Chise in alarm. She took Chise's wrist and held it between her fingertips, looking at her watch. She took out a stethoscope and listened to her heart and lungs.

"There's a crackling sound in her lungs when she breathes," Shannon said. "That's never a good sign. And her heartbeat is much too fast. My first guess would be pneumonia, but this is severe. I wish I had the equipment to run some medical tests to be sure."

"What do you need?" Elias asked. "Tell me and I will get it."

"It's not that simple. The equipment isn't easy to get if you're not in a hospital." Shannon thought for a moment. "What about that alchemist's college? They might have what we need."

Elias sighed. The last thing he wanted was to get the alchemists involved. But they seemed to care about Chise's well-being. They could at least be useful.

"I'll send a note," Elias said shortly, and left the room.

* * *

A few hours later, Alice showed up with Renfred and Stroud in tow. They brought with them all the medical accoutrements Shannon had requested, including several I.V. materials, both an invasive and non-invasive ventilator with an albuterol delivery system, and several pharmaceuticals, including pain medication. There was even a tracheotomy kit, should it come to that.

"I need a urine and mucus sample to test," Shannon told Elias as she helped a dizzied, listless Chise back to the bathroom. "I can have the results by dinner time. In the meanwhile, try and get her to drink as much fluid as you can. She needs to stay hydrated or I'll have to put in an I.V."

After a short few minutes, Shannon deposited Chise back on Elias's bed and told him she would perform the tests right away. He nodded, not able to communicate properly in his current mental state. Shannon left the room, leaving Elias and Ruth sitting cold and terrified, staring and Chise's pale, blank, sleeping face. Elias took her hand in his and held it as though it were a lifeline.

Time passed. Several times he tried to encourage Chise to drink, only for her to spit it back up moments later. Ruth looked on helplessly. They were both growing more frantic and frayed with each passing minute.

As the sun was setting, Alice knocked on the door and told Elias that Shannon had the results of the tests. Elias stood and instructed Ruth to stay with Chise and to notify him if there were any changes. Ruth dutifully lay down next to Chise, but not close enough to overheat her.

Elias pulled the red-cloth veil over his face and made his way down the stairs and into the sitting room. His guests sat there, grim-faced. Shannon had set up on Chise's normal work bench, pushing all of Chise's work out of the way. The sight of her projects, so carefully and attentively crafted, discarded haphazardly felt like a knife twist in his gut. It was almost like an omen of things to come.

"It's Legionnaire's Disease," Shannon said. "It's a severe form of pneumonia. Thankfully, it's not contagious, but the bacteria that causes it is literally everywhere in fresh water and in soil. It typically passes through most people's body without affecting them. It's mostly seen in the elderly, but it can also occur if a person has a suppressed or malfunctioning immune system. To say that Chise's immune system is compromised would be an understatement. She just couldn't fight it off like a normal girl her age."

"Is it fatal?" Elias asked.

Shannon sighed. "About ten percent of sufferers die from it."

Elias couldn't breathe. Cold pins and needles stuck themselves in his spine.

"What can be done?"

"We can give her strong antibiotics to stop the disease from multiplying, but there's no vaccine or cure. We just have to wait it out."

"How long?"

"It varies. Maybe a few days, maybe a few weeks."

His mind was buzzing. Things seemed to be happening both quickly and slowly. After all that she had been through, after curses and kidnappings, after blights and betrayal, how could something so common and mundane as a mortal illness be the thing that takes her away?

"The best thing you can do is take her to a hospital. She needs professional care," Shannon advised.

"No," Elias said simply.

"Do you care about her so little?" Renfred asked, incensed. "Or are you too arrogant to admit that this isn't a problem magic can fix?"

"No, he's right," Alice said.

"Alice!"

"I'm sorry, Master," Alice protested. "But he is. Chise doesn't have any identifying papers, she doesn't even have a copy of her birth certificate. She's technically an illegal alien and drawing up false documents would take too long. And it doesn't matter how much money he throws around," She pointed at Ainsworth. "Someone at the hospital is going to report her. She'll be deported back to Japan, and who knows how she'll be treated on the way? I don't even know if she could survive the trip."

That silenced them.

"Is she drinking?" Shannon asked.

"No," Elias answered. "She purges anything she ingests almost immediately."

Shannon sighed. "I'm going to go put in an I.V. and get her started on a powerful antibiotic regimen. She'll need to be monitored constantly. Did you bring the heart monitor and the blood pressure machine?" She asked the alchemists.

"Yes," Adolf said. "We brought a pulse oximeter as well. Need help getting it all upstairs?"

"Please." Shannon stood and stretched. "I should get the ventilator set up, too. She sounds like she needs it."

Shannon spent time setting up the medical equipment. Ruth sniffed at it with distaste. Elias's normally peaceful, calm bedroom was now full of people and unfamiliar sounds. The heart monitor beeped. The ventilator hissed. The pulse oximeter blipped. The I.V. regulator made a whirring noise. It was all foreign to him. Noisy and cold and it smelled awful.

But if it would help her…

"Okay," Shannon said. "Thanks for the help, lads, but she needs rest and care, not a bunch of people huddled around her. Get going." She began shooing the alchemists out of the room and down the stairs.

"I want daily updates!" Alice called up the stairs. "I mean it, Bonehead! If I don't hear anything tomorrow, I'm marching myself back up here and breaking down the door!"

The front door opened and shut, and the house was quiet again.

Elias ignored her. He reached down past the tubes and wires connected to Chise's body and felt her brow. Still hot, but not as much as before. Maybe the medicine was working.

Shannon returned at the door. "If you're committed to not take her to a hospital, the least I can do is stay and help you care for her until the fever breaks."

"Thank you," Elias replied. "You may take Chise's room. It's best if we don't move her unless absolutely necessary."

"I agree." Shannon brushed past him to check her I.V. "I've given her a strong fever reducer and some pain medicine. She'll be asleep for a while. When she wakes up, try to get her to eat. Something simple, broth and bread."

Silver, who had been lurking by the door, dashed downstairs, grateful for something useful to do at last.

"I'll keep working on magical remedies," Shannon said. "You have a fresh store of herbs, don't you?"

"Of course," He replied. "Chise… Chise always makes sure we're well stocked."

"She's a good apprentice," Shannon said sympathetically. She walked out of the room to meet Silver in the kitchen.

"Yes…" Elias said softly. He seated himself next to the bed, with Ruth settled on Chise's other side, and they listened to the noise of the machines and the cruel sound of Chise's breath.

* * *

"Chise…"

She felt herself spinning. It was dark and cold and she couldn't see.

"Chise… open your eyes…"

Chise struggled to pry open her swollen eyelids. When she did, she found herself in a void, weightless and floating. Before her, anchored and motionless, was the black fragment of Joseph, smiling up at her.

"What's happening to me?" She asked him.

"You're very ill," He replied.

"Will I die?"

He shook his head. "No. I'm keeping my promise. You will survive, but I'm afraid you will suffer. It may be a long time."

"That's okay," She said. "I can manage. As long as I make it back to the boys. They need me."

"Yes," The fragment laughed. "I believe you're right about that."

There was a flash, and she felt herself being pushed away in a rush of wind.

* * *

Elias had dressed for bed, but he had no intention of sleeping. Ruth was at the foot of the bed, snoring, unbothered by the noise, but the machines kept Elias awake. The house was quiet save for the beeping and blips and whirring. Elias sighed.

Chise lay next to him, covered only in a light sheet, with the ventilator mask over her face. The breathing treatments seemed to be working. The rattling rasp was far less noticeable. Shannon came in periodically to check her vitals and change the I.V. bag, but she was otherwise discreet.

Movement caught his attention. Chise was stirring.

"Chise?" He called quietly.

Her eyes opened, searching, and found his face. She smiled under the breathing mask.

"Hi there," She said. Her voice was raw and soft, but it was a joy to hear it.

Elias exhaled in relief. "How are you feeling?"

"Not so good," Chise said, reaching up to touch his face.

He caught her hand and held it there. "I told you something was wrong," He said.

"Yeah," She laughed. "You'd think I'd learn to listen."

Elias left the bed and went to a table holding a warming tray. "Silver has prepared a broth for you."

"I don't feel very hungry, Elias," Chise said.

"I know," He said, filling a bowl. "But you should try to eat nonetheless."

He repositioned her so that she was sitting up, noticing that her body was still too warm, and took off the breathing mask. She lay limp and weak on the pillows, the gaze she fixed him with was full of trust and affection. It caused a tightness in his chest.

Carefully, he spooned a bit of the broth into her mouth. She managed to swallow it without choking.

She got seven mouthfuls down before she started to cough and didn't stop. Elias placed the breathing mask back on her face and helped her lay back down.

He got back into the bed on her other side and lay down on his stomach, watching her from the corner of her eye. She caught him staring.

"Don't worry," She said. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Promise?" He asked.

She smiled and reached for his hand, which he offered. "Promise."

He watched her eyes close anxiously. The mist from the ventilator helped ease her cough, and she was sleeping better.

He hoped this would be over soon.

* * *

A shrieking woke him from his sleep. Chise was huddled against the opposite wall, screaming. She had ripped all the tubes off and knocked the machines over. Blood from where the I.V. had been torn from her skin was dripping down her arm.

" _Gomennasai!_ " She cried. She gripped her hair with her hands and covered her ears with her palms.

"Chise!" Ruth shouted, rushing toward her. Elias leapt out of bed and knelt next to her.

"Chise, what's wrong?" Elias asked frantically, reaching out to touch her shoulder.

" _Sawaranaide kudasai!_ " She screamed.

"Elias, don't touch her!" Ruth yelped.

Elias snatched back his hand as though it had been burned. "Why, what is it?"

"That's what she said. ' _Don't touch me!_ ' she said."

"You understand Japanese?"

"No, but I understand her thoughts. It's a rough translation, I guess, but it works."

Chise was rocking back and forth, weeping loudly, mumbling in Japanese.

"Can you understand what she's saying?" Elias asked the grim.

"I'm trying."

Chise's crying had drawn both Silver and Shannon to the room.

"What's going on?" Shannon shouted.

" _Moshiwake arimasen watashi wa sono yona futandesu! Moshiwake arimasen watashi wa sugoku muzukashi!_ " Chise screamed.

"'I'm sorry I'm such a burden. I'm sorry I'm so difficult,'" Ruth recited.

"Chise, you're not!" Elias insisted. "You're not a burden, you're-"

"She's not talking to us, Elias," Ruth said grimly.

"What?"

"She's delirious, trapped in her memories. Bad ones."

" _Sumimasen, watashi wa totemo kimyo desu! Watashi wa yori yoku naru to yakusoku suru! Watashi o kizutsukenaide kudasai_! _"_

"'I'm sorry I'm so strange. I'll try to be better. Please don't hurt me.'" Ruth translated.

"What do we do?" Elias asked Shannon desperately.

Shannon rubbed her chin in thought. "This might be why she's reacting so poorly to the disease and why the treatment aren't setting in well. She's got a lot of emotional turmoil left over from her childhood that she's never dealt with, and that can be as deadly as any illness." She bent to kneel next to Chise, close but not touching, and place a hand above her head. A gentle white glow radiated from her palm. "It's all right, Chise. Let it all out. You're safe."

Chise was extremely distressed. Her rocking was frantic. She gripped her hair as though trying to pull it out. Her eyes were wide and staring, seeing nothing.

" _Dashite! Dashite! Watashi wa sore o kowasanakatta!_ " Chise cried.

"'Let me out! Let me out! I didn't break it!'"

" _Ojisan, dozo! Watashi wa machigatte nani mo shinakatta!_ "

"'Uncle, please! I didn't do anything wrong!'"

" _Okasan! Otosan! Modotte! Tasukete!_ "

"'Mother! Father! Come back! Help me!"

" _Watashi ga warukattara sumimasen! Watashi wa mo koko ni itakunai! Obasan wa watashi o kizutsuke, ojisan wa watashi o kirau. Ie ni kaeritai!_ "

"I"m sorry if I was bad! I don't want to be here anymore! Auntie hurts me, Uncle hates me. I want to go home!"

Chise began to mumble then, crying too hard to make a coherent sentence.

"I can't pick up the thread," Ruth said morosely. "The only thing I can make out is 'I'm sorry' over and over."

Elias was at a loss for words. He had known Chise's childhood had been a bad one, but he was only now starting to realize just how bad.

Chise was wracked with sobs, unable to speak anymore. She bent double and pressed her forehead to the floor.

"How do we stop this?" Ruth asked.

"There is no stopping it," Shannon said. "Chise has been suppressing these emotions for a long time, never acknowledging them. She needs to be able to let these feelings out. If she shuts them in, if she refuses to deal with them, they'll only cause her more problems in the future. It's best if we just let her grieve."

"Grieve?" Elias echoed.

"For what she's lost. Family, friends, home, childhood, innocence. Each loss takes it's toll. And if she's never had the chance to deal with the trauma, it can cause immense emotional and psychological damage, the stress of which can bleed over and cause physical damage. Depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, irrational paranoia, no sense of self-preservation, obsessive compulsions, all kinds of mood disorders. She's already shown signs of a few of these conditions and they need treating. Being invisible doesn't mean they aren't real and don't need to be dealt with."

"So we just let her cry?" Elias asked.

"Yes," Shannon said. "It may seem counter-intuitive, but sometimes just acknowledging that you feel bad about it can help." The glow in her palm subsided, and Chise's desperate sobbing eased to quiet gulps. "She can't keep these emotions locked up forever. It'll only cause more trouble for her. When she's lucid, it would help greatly for her to talk about the things she's been through. If not to the two of you, then to someone. Perhaps that alchemist girl. They seem close."

"I already know most of what she's been through. We share memories, after all," Ruth reminded her.

"Just knowing about it doesn't fix the problem," Shannon said. "She needs some kind of cathartic release so that she can move on. The best kind of release is to talk about it, get it out in the open. That way, she doesn't have to keep it bottled up anymore. Once the original wound is treated, she can begin to heal."

"I see," Elias said, though he was still struggling to understand.

Chise was shivering and sweaty. She sniffled and wheezed, but the worst of the crying was over, he thought. She wasn't rambling in Japanese anymore. Ruth said he could feel her thoughts calming. Her eyes closed, her hands fell from her head and landed on the floor with a double thump. She slumped against the wall.

"She needs cleaning up," Shannon said. "After, I'll put the I.V. back in."

Elias gathered her up and took her to the bathroom, where Silver had a bath waiting for her. She assisted Elias in undressing, bathing, and redressing Chise. Shannon and Ruth had changed the bedclothes in their absence.

After Chise was hooked back up to all the machines, Shannon and Silver left. Ruth laid down on the floor on Chise's side, careful not to get entangled in the cords and tubes. Elias sat up in bed, staring down at Chise shivering form. There would be no further sleep for him tonight.

* * *

Weeks passed. Every time she would gain ground, her fever would spike and she would fall into a spiral of delirium. It was agonizing for everyone in the house. A shadow had passed over the land, as if winter had come early. The fae even tried to help, but their magic was useless.

Elias had poured over every healing spell, every book of fae medicine, every note on cures and potions for illness and disease. Nothing worked.

Shannon had stayed true to her word; she hadn't left once in the entire duration of Chise's sickness. She was optimistic, telling Elias that it would pass, that Chise was strong, that it was bound to break soon. Elias wasn't reassured. Every night that she lay next to him, shivering and muttering, caused him worry and pain.

Everyone in the house was exhausted. Even Silver seemed to wilt. Ruth never left Chise's side. Elias refused all visitors, even Simon. Lindel had heard from the ariels that Chise was gravely ill, and though he couldn't leave the aerie, he sent his familiar with well wishes and a healing balm to ease the burning fever. It helped for a while. But nothing lasted for long. Elias was beginning to lose hope that she'd ever recover.

He had lived far longer than any mortal man. He was possibly older than Lindel, possibly older than his master, Rahab. He didn't know. Before now, he never had cause to notice the passage of time. An hour, a day, and a year were all the same to him. Perhaps it was a cliche to think so, but it was the truth. Time had no meaning to him.

That is, until he had deigned it necessary to buy another living, thinking creature. He had expected her to become dependent upon him so that she would never leave, though that theory had been sorely tested not too long ago, but he could never have predicted how attached he would grow to her. He had only meant to observe her behavior and use her magic to his advantage. Coming to love her was not anything he could have fathomed at the time. But he was. He did.

Time now moved more slowly than it took for an oak to grow. Every moment he watched her struggle for breath, scream at the ghosts of her childhood, or shiver against the chill of the fever, felt like a lifetime.

He was learning about all sorts of new emotions, none of them pleasant or welcome. Chief among them was terror. He'd be happy to go through the rest of his life and never feel this one terrible emotion again, but during the length of Chise's illness, it never seemed to subside. It was present when he woke in the morning, and it kept him awake long into the night.

The only moments of relief were the times when Chise was lucid and talking coherently. He was desperate to hear her voice and see her smile. These respites were all too brief before she succumbed to the disease again. Elias lived for those short moments. They kept him from devolving into his worst self.

* * *

One cold morning, Elias woke from a sodden sleep to find Chise's side of the bed empty. Panicked, he jumped out of bed and looked around. The machines had been turned off and the I.V. was removed. The remaining saline bag was lying on the bedside table.

Elias rushed down the stairs still in his nightclothes, heart in his throat, to find Chise sitting up at the kitchen table, letting Silver feed her porridge. Shannon was watching her closely and Ruth was sitting opposite Chise in his human form, a rare smile on his face.

The fear, pain, and panic in Elias's chest evaporated in an instant. He fell upon her in relief, wrapping her up in his arms.

"Whoa! Careful, Elias, she's still pretty weak," Shannon warmed.

"No, it's okay," Chise said, her voice still thin but lacking the crackle and wheezing it had had the past month. Her breathing was clear. Her skin was cool. She gripped the fabric of his pajama top. "I missed him, too."

Elias felt as if he had been holding his breath for a month and now he could finally exhale. A weight, a stifling pressure, had lifted itself off of him.

"Yes," He whispered into her hair. "I missed you so."

Shannon smiled at the pair. "She's out of the woods, so to speak. She'll need to take it easy for at least another week and eat up to get her strength back. She lost a lot of weight while she was ill. She can be up and moving around for most of the day to built her muscles back up, but no magic, no chores, and nothing strenuous for a while yet."

Elias took this information in distantly. He sat down next to Chise and allowed Silver to continue feeding her, though refused to release her hand.

Around lunchtime, Shannon determined that Chise would be fine and that the fae doctor was no longer needed. She called the alchemists to come and pick up the medical equipment. There was a happy reunion with Alice and Stroud, and a civil greeting from Renfred. Elias allowed it, feeling generous in his joy.

Stroud had brought with him Merituuli, who used a mirror so that Chise could speak to Lindel. Lindel was overjoyed at her renewed health and wished for her to come and visit him when her strength had returned. Chise promised to do so.

It was after dinnertime when the house was finally quiet again. Elias had endured the noise and the crowd and the mess for Chise's sake, but now that everyone had gone home, he could finally have her to himself.

Her dinner was a soft stew, easy to digest, and some herbal tea. He didn't doubt she wished for something more substantial after a month of simple soups and broth, but she ate it with a smile and nary a word of dissatisfaction.

They went to bed early, both of them exhausted after the ordeal of dealing with so many people. Elias had asked Ruth if he might have Chise alone, and Ruth, the good man he was, understood and slept on Chise's bed by himself.

Chise herself lay on the right side of his large bed, where she normally slept, but now there were no more tubes and wires and noises. Her body was warm, but not the burning of a fever. Color was returning to her cheeks. She was able to move independently now, and she shifted the covers over her with a small smile on her face.

Laying next to her wasn't good enough. He scooped her up and put her in his lap, nuzzling her head and stroking her hair.

"Did I worry you?" Chise asked in her soft, sweet voice.

"Rather badly, I must admit," Elias said.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," Chise replied.

These words brought back the manic, frenzied chanting of _I'm sorry_ in Japanese during her delirious states, over and over again. Frantic, frail, terrified.

"Don't be sorry. This wasn't your fault." He paused and pressed on, holding Chise close to him. "Chise, may I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"I know you've been through a lot these past few weeks, but there were many things you said during your fever dreams that haunt me."

"I don't remember much about them," She said. "Did I say something weird?"

"No, not as such, but it did reveal much about your treatment as a child."

Chise was silent. Her body tensed.

"What did I say?"

"You kept apologizing over and over. You asked to go home. You said that your relatives hurt you and hated you. You called for your parents."

"Is that all?" She asked.

"No," He said. "There were other things that I didn't understand. I would like to understand, if you'd be willing to talk to me about them."

Chise remained silent.

"I know your upbringing was terribly difficult, Chise," Elias began. "I know, at one point, you felt that your only escape was to end your own life. I am grateful that you decided against that path. I've learned more in the last year and a half by being with you than I did in two hundred years of being alone. I would not be who I am now had we never met."

Chise looked up at him then, her face impassive.

"The pain and hardship you endured before coming to me may be over, but it's not gone. You still suffer because of it. I wish to ease your suffering as much as I am able. If you are willing, I would like to hear whatever you wish to say."

Chise took a deep breath. "I don't even know where to start."

"Start at the beginning."

Chise was quiet and took several deep breaths. He was gratified that there was no rattle when she did this. She reached up with on hand and gripped the front of his shirt while the other arm wrapped around his back. She leaned her head against his chest and inhaled deeply.

"We were happy, once," Chise began, almost whispering. "Until dad left. Everything changed after that. Mom was never the same. She was always sad and angry and she cried a lot. Almost all the time. One day, it became too much. She held out for as long as she could, but she was frail, like me. She went crazy and tried to strangle me. When she realized what she was doing, she was so overcome with guilt, she jumped. Just like that. There and gone within the span of three seconds."

The story came out stuttering, stumbling, and haltingly at first, but the longer she spoke, the easier it was to tell the tale, one of neglect, abuse, depression, and loss. Elias listened as she described the aftermath of her mother's suicide. He listened when she told him of how she'd been locked in a closet for three days for breaking a plate. He listened when she conveyed a tale of being beaten with fish bat when she told her Auntie's employer that he had a thing attached to him that no one else could see. He listened to her account of one distant relative who just flat out hated the sound of Chise's voice and would slap her when she cried, so she simply stopped speaking for two years. She told him of how no one had even noticed she never talked anymore. She spoke of foster homes, orphanages, even living on the street at one point. Tears came to her eyes often, but it was a quiet lament, not the howling madness of her feverish night terrors.

She talked for hours, laying out all the horrible things that had happened or been done to her in her short life on earth. Elias felt many emotions in a roil: anger, frustration, sadness, protectiveness, a desire for vengeance against those who had wronged her so callously. But most of all, he felt gratitude.

He was grateful to whatever force of nature that had shoved her haphazardly in his direction. He was grateful he found her before another could take advantage and abuse her. He was grateful that she would never have to be afraid of such things again, of being small and timid and helpless and at the mercy of hateful, indifferent people. He would make sure she knew how much he appreciated having her in his life from this moment forward. He didn't know what he could do to make that happen, but he would figure something out. He was resourceful, after all.

Her story came to a stop when she described signing a slave contract and being led out in chains to a stage in front of a large group of masked, hooded figures. She smiled, though still crying softly, and lifted her hand to caress his face.

"I guess you know the rest," She said fondly.

"Yes," He replied. "I purchased you there and then. I didn't give anyone else a chance. You were mine from the moment I laid eyes on you."

She nodded. "I think you might be right about that. In fact, I think I was yours before we even met."

"How so?" Elias asked curiously.

"Ever since my mom died, I've been in a sort of limbo. Waiting for something to happen to me. Whenever things did happen, they were usually bad, but I always had this feeling that whatever I was waiting for hadn't happened yet. One of the reasons I contemplated ending my own life is because I thought the thing I was waiting for would never come, but then Seth from the auction house approached me, just as I was going to climb over the fence and jump. He found me a just the right moment."

Her voice grew contemplative. "I'm not sure if I believe in a grand design or that everything happens as it's mean to happen, but if Seth had come a minute earlier, I wouldn't have been there. A minute later, and I would have been dead."

"Do you still feel as if you are awaiting some unknown thing to happen to you?" Elias asked.

"No," She said with a smile, pressing a kiss to his collarbone. "It's already happened."

Warmth flooded Elias's body, and he felt a great sense of peace.

"Thank you for sharing your story with me, Chise," Elias said. "I know it wasn't easy for you. I feel I now have a better understanding to some of your behavior that had previously baffled me. I'm grateful for that."

"I'm glad."

"I wish I had more of myself to offer in return. Alas, there is only so much about myself and my past, and much of it you already know, for better or worse."

"There's still a lot I don't know about you, actually," Chise retorted. "Like, what's your favorite flower?"

"Hmm," Elias hummed. "I'm not certain. I don't know if I have a favorite anything. I supposed I do favor roses, though."

"Let's make a game of it," Chise said, smiling brightly at him. "Of learning about each other."

"A game?"

"Yes. We'll take turns asking each other questions about the other. The questions can be silly or serious or informative, whatever you want to ask. And we have to answer, that's the only rule."

"Seems reasonable," He mused, though he could only imagine the kinds of questions she would come up with. "Would you like to go first?"

Chise yawned. "Maybe we could start the game tomorrow?"

"Yes, of course," Elias responded quickly. "You must be incredibly weary. My apologies for keeping you up. I dearly missed talking with you."

Chise smiled softly and took his bony snout in her hands, touching her now cool forehead to his.

"I missed being awake," She said with a laugh.

He set her down quite gently on her side of the bed, and pulled the covers over his and her legs. Flipping face down, he lay his skull on the pillow and sighed contentedly.

He felt her pulling at his arm, and when he lifted it, she slid underneath so that her body was touching his, and allowed his arm to fall across torso. Their faces were millimeters away from each other. He looked at her in surprise.

"Are you comfortable?" She asked him sleepily.

"Quite so," He responded. He grasped her around her waist and snugged her closer to his side. She placed her arm on his neck, and they stayed that way, cuddled into each other for warmth.

She lifted her head to kiss him. "Goodnight, Elias."

He laid his head above hers so that he could breath in the sweet scent of her hair. "Sweet dreams, dear one."

His last image before sleeping was of her lovely face, smiling at him


	4. Those Who Wander

It was a fairly warm autumn afternoon. Elias sat in his study with the windows open, letting the natural light and breeze wash over the room, going over the notes of Chise's last lesson. Her handwriting was improving; when she first came, she spoke English well but wasn't as good at reading or writing it. Her first few written assignments were illegible, but her practice was paying off.

She still had an annoying habit of writing private notes to herself in Japanese kanji. He was just going to have to learn Japanese at some point. One such note caught his attention, as there was an arrow pointing from it to a paragraph about lake sprites and a question mark beside it.

Sighing, he rose from his chair, intent on asking her what about the subject matter was confusing her so he could help. She wasn't in her bedroom, or his bedroom, or the sitting room, or the kitchen, or the garden.

"Silver?" Elias called. Silver came walking out of the kitchen, scrubbing her hands on a washcloth. "Did Chise go somewhere?"

The Silky nodded and handed him a note from her pocket.

 _Elias,_

 _Ruth and I are going for a short walk. We aren't going far. We'll be back before dinner. Love you._

 _Chise_

Elias sighed. He wished she would tell him these things before going and doing as she pleased. Then again, maybe she had and he'd been too busy to notice. He needed to start paying better attention.

Taking his robe from the rack near the door, he swung it over his shoulders and stepped out of the front door, tuning his mind to the adder stone around her neck. It was almost like sonar; his mind put out a call to it and he'd get a ping back with it's location. He saw the shine of it's magical tracking spell glimmering to the southwest along the edge of the forest. He melted into the shadow that ran along the house, passed into the treeline and followed the darkness through the forest, homing in on the glimmer.

He reformed on the spot where the stone brought him, and found only Ruth there, pacing restlessly. He was wearing the adder stone around his neck.

"Ruth?" Elias said, surprised. "Where is Chise?"

"She went off alone," Ruth said, though he was clearly anxious about it. "She said she wanted some time to herself."

Elias grew frustrated. "Why?"

"I don't know," The grim admitted. "She wouldn't tell me. And she's blocking me from her thoughts. She told me she hadn't had a single second alone in months and she just wanted some time to be on her own."

Elias crossed his arms, huffing impatiently. "She knows the forest is dangerous. I can't believe she would do something so reckless." He touch his hand to his forehead. "What am I saying? Of course I can." He dissolved back into the shadows. "I'll find her."

"Wait, Elias, she was pretty adamant that she didn't want company. Besides, she'd alert me if there was danger. She'll be pretty mad that you followed her," Ruth warned him.

"I can suffer her anger well enough," Elias retorted. He couldn't suffer something happening to her. That silly girl. When was she going to take her own safety seriously?

"Well, I'm waiting here, like she told me," Ruth said, lying down. "Better if you catch all her fury than both of us."

Elias would have smiled if he could. He took off quickly, shooting through the undergrowth and shrubs, sniffing here and there for her. Her smell was distinctive. It reminded him of his garden outside of the house, likely because she spent so much time there. Intermingled with the smell of flowers and earth was also the smell of spring rain, warm bread, and wood ash for some reason. He'd know her scent anywhere. He flitted to and fro, sniffing and searching for her fragrance.

He finally caught a faint whiff of her aroma and adjusted his trajectory to follow it. He could tell he was getting closer as the smell was growing stronger, although there was another scent underlying it, a strange musk that he didn't recognize, though it was enticing in a way he didn't quite understand.

He slowed to a stop when he stumbled upon a clearing near a small, running stream. There he saw Chise lying next to the stream under the shade of a large willow tree. He was about to reveal himself and scold her for coming out here on her own, but something about her posture and the soft sounds she was making gave him pause.

She lay flat on her back with her green coat rolled up and tucked under her head. Her eyes were half closed and her lips pursed. The skin of her neck and cheeks were very pink. Her inhales were deep and gasping, her exhales sharp and shuddering, and her chest rose and fell in quick bursts.

He looked down her body as it lay in the grass and saw that she had shed her shoes and leggings, which lay to the side, and flipped up her skirt to reveal her undergarments. Her legs lay open, knees bent, and one of her hands had slipped under the fabric of her underwear, her fingers moving in a steady circular rhythm. Her other hand gripped the soft flesh of the inside of her left thigh, her nails digging into the skin. She was emitting a series of soft noises, little moans and whimpering sighs, and she bit her lip as if to stifle them.

He was seized with a sudden intense curiosity that kept him motionless, stopping him from interrupting her. At first he thought she was hurting herself. He had never seen anyone do this to themselves and was not at all sure what was taking place. He couldn't imagine why she was doing it, but he continued to observe her as her left hand moved from her thigh, reaching up underneath her sweater to touch her breast. The movements of her fingers on the right hand accelerated. Her body responded by spasming and twitching. The sounds that escaped her became more frequent, though it seems she was still attempting to keep quiet.

The muscles in her legs tensed, and the movement of her fingers became frantic and and frenzied. Her toes curled and her spine arched. Her head fell back, leaving her neck fully exposed, and her eyes closed completely as her body stiffened and stretched, her feet lifted off the ground. She failed to stop a quivering moan from bursting out of her, long-sustained and high in pitch. Her entire body was rigid and shaking, her breathing ragged and explosive. She almost seemed to levitate off of the ground.

Then, all at once, she relaxed and went mostly limp. She let out a contented sigh, and the slow, circular motion of her fingers resumed, the muscles of her thighs jumping at the pressure.

The strange musk he had smelled while searching was coming from her, he realized, from that sensitive, secret place that her fingers caressed and stroked. It suddenly occurred to him that she wasn't hurting herself, she was pleasuring herself. He was breathing in her arousal.

A strange confluence of feelings began to swirl within him. He felt a tingle in his spine and a pulsing at his midsection. His heart pounded in his chest and there was an intense heat bubbling up in him. The parallel part of his anatomy began to jump and twitch. He felt several strong urges, but he was only familiar with one of them.

Hunger.

He was hungry. But this hunger was new, surprising, and incredibly exciting. He was familiar with the concept of sex, but until this very moment, he had no desire to pursue it. The vision of her face at the moment of climax, the tightness of her body when she reached the peak of excitement, had stirred something up inside him, and now he couldn't think of anything else.

Deep in the darkest, primal corners of his mind, the part he had grown adept at subduing, he had wondered what it would feel like to sink his teeth into her flesh, how satisfying it would be to devour her, how invigorating her magic would be when he digested it and it became a part of him.

Now, he was wondering the exact same thing in a completely new context. He wondered if every inch of her body would be as delicious as her blood was to him. He wanted to use his tongue to bathe that aromatic sweet spot her fingers touched and massaged. He wanted to feel her touch him with the same confidence she exhibited when she touched herself.

Now he couldn't help but imagine her underneath him in his bed, that feverish blush painted on her skin and those glittering eyes looking up at him, half-closed in ecstasy. He imagined breathing in the sweet aroma of her natural scent mixed with the intoxicating perfume of her heated, excited body. He wanted to feel those gentle moans breathed into his skin as her body writhed against his.

He pushed the thoughts, enticing though they were, out of his head. He couldn't allow himself to think these things. Chise couldn't possibly see him as a sexual partner. She cared for him and had a deep affection for him, but this was a line he was certain she would never cross. For all she knew, he may not have even had the necessary components to be intimate with her. No, she'd never want to be with him. He knew that. He'd always known it.

He stayed in the shadows as she brought herself to the brink of pleasure for a second time. Then a third, and a fourth. The fifth time her body seized up with the stimulation of her own hand and then unwound, she finally pulled her fingers from the wet, warm spot she had created and pushed her skirt back down, crossing her ankles. She then lay there for several moments to catch her breath, hands clasped on her stomach and sighing in satisfaction, her face peaceful.

Elias thought it would be prudent to take this time to make his exit, but he found he could not look away from her supine form. Her eyes were closed, her brow damp with sweat, and her mouth formed a contented smile. Her breast finally stopped heaving with the exertion and she inhaled and exhaled deeply.

Eventually, she opened her eyes and stood to put her tights and shoes back on, then went to the stream to wash her hands and face, taking a few sips while she was as it. She took a handful of water and rubbed it on the back of her neck, closing her eyes, the smile still on her face.

Suddenly her eyes snapped open, and she looked around herself in suspicion, as though she was just alerted to the presence of another nearby. Elias slipped away from her hiding place and sped back toward the road. He was hoping to catch her as she stumbled back onto the trail home.

After five minutes, she did just that, tripping over a root as she walked back out into the sunlight. When she saw Elias standing there, she stopped dead in her tracks, the color draining from her face.

"Hello, Chise," He said quietly.

"What are you doing out here?" Chise asked him.

"Looking for you," Elias replied. He drew her notes out of his sleeve and showed it to her. "I can't read your notes. What about the subject of lake sprites has you puzzled?"

Chise breathed a sigh of relief. "No, not puzzled. I was just comparing them to kappas, which are river demons in Japan. I was wondering if there was a correlation between the species."

"Ah, I see," Elias said. He folded the notes and returned them to his sleeve, and they set off up the road back home.

"I've told Ruth that you and I are on our way back and to meet us at the house," Chise said.

"That's good. He did tell me you wished to be alone."

"I'm glad at least he listens to me," Chise grumbled.

"You know it's dangerous to go into the forest by yourself. You seem to delight in knowingly putting yourself in danger and it continues to thoroughly baffle me," Elias admonished her. "That clearing was relatively free of fae, but you could have attracted all kinds of trouble had you stayed there much longer."

Chise had stopped abruptly. She stared at Elias with her eyes and mouth wide open.

"You found me there?" She asked him. Her voice had gone rather squeaky.

"I did," Elias answered.

"What did you see?" She asked trepidatiously.

Elias was silent for a moment, debating whether to tell her the truth.

"Enough," He replied eventually.

Her face went red as a beet and she hid behind her hands, leaning against the road wall.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no," She mumbled, he words muffled by her fingers. "Please don't tell me you saw what I think you saw!"

"Are you embarrassed?" Elias asked.

" _Yes!_ " Chise said loudly. "I'm absolutely mortified! No one is supposed to see that!"

"Why?"

"It's private!" She exclaimed. "Would you want people to see you doing that?"

"I've never done it, so I wouldn't know," Elias admitted.

That took her aback, her humiliation briefly forgotten. "Never?"

"No," He said, sitting on the wall with her.

She was silent for a couple of minutes. " _Can_ you?"

He looked over at her. "Pardon?"

She came at the question from a different angle. "I know you can take any form you like, but you identify as male, right?"

"Yes."

"So… do you…have…" She faltered to a stop, waving vaguely at his midsection.

He was confused for a moment, but then he said, "Oh, I see. You're asking if this form has biologically male parts, yes?"

"Yes, I am."

"Yes, it does." He paused thoughtfully. "Although, I am capable of changing it at will, like my face. Would it be better if I had female parts?"

"No, no, that's okay," She said, although she would file that away for later. "Have you ever felt… aroused?"

"Sexually, you mean?"

"Yes."

He paused to think about it. "I'm not sure. I don't believe so. Not until today."

"Today?" She asked, looking up at him.

He didn't answer, but she inferred his meaning and blushed.

"You've never been with another person? Either human or fae?" She asked him.

"No," Elias said. "Humans tend to be too frightened of me and the fae find me repulsive. I've actively avoided spending much time with either race for most of my life. I've never gotten close enough to another to even consider such a thing. Not before you."

"There's Silky and Lindel," Chise pointed out.

"Yes, but Lindel is even more of a solitary being than I am, and Silver's not one for conversation," Elias said, chuckling. "She has taken care of the house since before I bought the land. We are friendly, but I wouldn't say we're close."

"Hmm," Chise said. They fell silent for a few minutes, staring out over the field.

"Chise," Elias began. "What caused you to seek solitude today? What prompted this… need for release?"

Chise blushed even harder. "I had a dream last night."

"Of?"

She hid her face and mumbled something.

"Sorry?"

"I dreamed about you," She said finally, not meeting his eye.

Oh. "What took place in this dream of yours?" He asked, intrigued.

"Just…touching," She said, still muffled by her hands. "You touching me, me touching you."

"What kind of touching?"

Her blush was spreading to her neck and chest. "Like what you saw in the clearing, only to each other."

"You said that was private."

"Yes," she said bashfully. "But you can also share it with a sexual partner, if the two people are inclined to it. In the dream, it almost went further than touching, but I woke up before that part."

Elias was silenced. Did she actually see him as a person to which she would willingly give her body? He had trouble believing it.

"Chise…do you consider me to be a viable partner for sexual intimacy?"

"Yes," She said without hesitation. She looked up into his eyes, and though she still blushed scarlet, he could see she was telling the truth.

His heart lifted. "Truly?"

She laughed a gentle laugh. "You know, for someone who's supposed to be arrogant, you have a pretty low opinion of yourself." She hooked her arm in his and rested her head against him. "I love you, Elias. You're the only one I want to be with."

His jaw hung open in amazement. She wanted him. She wanted him as he was, no glamours, no human disguise, no tricks, no traps. She knew him, with all his flawed views and limited understanding and slow grasp of what it was to he human, and yet… she still wanted him.

"Do you consider me a viable partner?" She asked in return.

"I consider you to be the only viable partner," He replied simply.

She looked down and away, but a soft smile lit her features.

"Should we?" He asked her.

"Should we what?"

"Be intimate with each other."

She looked at him, the flush of her skin as red as ever, but considered the idea.

"I'm still young," she said. "It wouldn't be legal."

"Buying you wasn't legal," He reminded her.

"True," She admitted. "But this is different. More to the point, you and I are still figuring out what our relationship is and determining what we're comfortable with. Neither of us know all that much about how to be with another person. Just being physically affectionate is still a big deal for me. There's a lot more to learn for the both of us. I think being becoming sexually active is a huge leap that, honestly, neither of us are ready for."

"I believe you may be right about that," Elias said. "So what would you suggest?"

She thought about it. "Eighteen is the legal age of consent in most developed countries. For me, that's fifteen months away. I think that might be a good amount of time to wait. It'll give us plenty of time to learn what we need to know about each other to be good together." She looked up at him. "What do you think?"

"I think that sounds reasonable," He replied. "Very well. We shall wait."

"In the meantime," Chise said, jumping down off of the wall. "Perhaps you should explore your body a little. See if you can find pleasure in it, like I do with mine. It could be a private experiment. You might be surprised at the results."

"Perhaps I will," He mused. "But perhaps I won't. I supposed I will have to see if the mood strikes me."

"That's fair," She said. "You may not, and that's okay. Not everyone is built the same, that way." She held out her hand to him. "We should get back. Ruth says dinner will be ready soon and he's getting anxious."

Elias took her hand and stood up, and they walked back toward the house.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention what you saw to either Ruth or Silver," Chise said.

"Because it's embarrassing?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Ruth was rather put out that you had blocked your connection with him," Elias said.

"Trust me, he doesn't need to know everything that's knocking around in my head. It's for his benefit as much as it is mine," She replied. "There are some things you just need to keep to yourself."

"You talked to me about it," Elias pointed out.

"Yeah, well, you didn't give me much choice, did you?" She said sourly. "But, to tell the truth, I'm kind of glad we had this conversation, as mortifying as it was."

"Why is that?"

"It's good to have a definitive outline of your relationship with another person; what you want from it, what you don't want. I think talking about this will save us both some embarrassment in the future."

"Hmm." Elias hummed. "Perhaps."

For a few minutes they walked in silence, her hand in his.

"Elias?" She asked slowly.

"Hmm?"

"I was just curious." Again she blushed and failed to meet his eye. "How did you feel? Watching me, I mean?"

He thought back to seeing her in the clearing. Her back arching, the sounds of her pleasure, the scent of her sweat and arousal in the air.

"Hot…" He said. "And hungry."

"Hungry?" She asked. Her voice held no judgment.

"Yes, but not to eat," He interjected quickly. "A different type of hunger. Desire, I think you might call it. It was foreign to me."

"I get that," Chise said.

"You do?" Elias asked, looking at her in surprise.

"Yes," She looked up at him and smiled slyly. "That feeling is what drove me to be alone in the first place."

He considered this. "If I were to experiment with these new sensations, could I talk about it with you? You're the only frame of reference I have."

"Yes," She said. "But, again, it's a private matter, just between the two of us. I'd prefer it if we were alone."

"I think I understand. If I were to imagine myself in a similar situation as to the one you were just in, I think it would be rather awkward if another person observed me doing it."

"Exactly."

"Unless it was you," He said, finishing his thought.

She looked up at him from the fringe of her lashes. "You wouldn't mind if I watched you touch yourself?"

"No, I don't think I would. I saw you. It's only fair."

That was something to think about. Her face was hard to read, but he thought she might be curious. But they saw the house in the distant and Ruth running up to them.

"Perhaps it's best if we table this discussion for now," Elias suggested.

"I agree." Chise looked up at him and gave him a cheeky wink. "Later then."

They smelled roasted beef and grilled vegetables wafting through the air, and Ruth greeted them with a wag of his tail. He could sense they were in a good mood, so his fears that they'd return furious with each other dissipated. Chise retrieved her necklace from Ruth and placed it back over her head. Elias scolded her about taking it off in the first place, but in a good-natured sort of way. Ruth was still confused about the whole situation, but accepted the outcome without grumbling about it. They all went inside and seated themselves for dinner.

There was a new tension now between Elias and Chise, heavy and tantalizing, but only they were aware of it. Fifteen months hadn't seemed like such a long time before, but catching Chise's little glances and flirty half smiles throughout dinner, Elias thought it might feel like an eternity.


	5. Gifts

January 13th, Chise's eighteenth birthday. Chise had awoken bright and eager to start the day. She had a full roster of things to look forward to. Stella had invited her to breakfast, then she was off to lunch at a pub with Alice and Angelica in London, and Silver was planning a very special dinner when she returned home. Elias was going to accompany her to the breakfast at Stella's family's place, but Angelica had made it clear to him that he was not invited to the Girl's Lunch. It was no matter, Elias had said. He wasn't all that interested in going to London that day as it was. It was likely to be rainy.

She dressed quickly and dashed down the stairs with a human Ruth to the kitchen where Elias waited, drinking his morning coffee and reading the paper. Silver was bustling about, getting things prepared for her birthday dinner, and smiled brightly as Chise and Ruth came in.

"Good morning, Ruth. Happy Birthday, Chise," Elias said in a pleasant tone.

"Thanks, Elias," Chise said happily, kissing his cheek.

" _Nine-hundred and forty-seven_ ," Elias said under his breath.

"We're supposed to be at Stella's grandmother's place at eight. I don't want to be late. Are you ready to go?"

"Yes," he replied, gulping down the last of the coffee and standing. "I can transport us there using magic, you know."

"Nah, I like the walk," Chise said. "Especially now, with the snow everywhere. It's nice. I didn't see snow much in Japan."

"Hmm. Well, as long as you don't catch a chill," Elias said.

"You'll be there to keep me warm, won't you?" She asked him playfully, smiling.

They had grown very close in the last year and a half, but these flirtatious occasions between them were still new and rather amusing to him. Sometimes it was hard for him to realize she was being coy, having little experience with such things, but he was enjoying the learning process. It helped that they were talking about things much more and attempting to open up to each other. Learning from these little moments made being with her that much more gratifying.

He did wish he could smile at her, though, but bone is immovable. "Of course," He replied, wrapping the folds of his robe around her as her arms snaked around his waist. He nuzzled her head with his snout.

"Are we going?" Ruth asked a little impatiently. He wasn't used to waiting for his breakfast. Chise rolled her eyes at him and the three made their way to the door.

* * *

Elias had been introduced to Stella's family as a wealthy holistic medicine-maker, and both Chise and Ruth as his apprentices. It was close enough to the truth. Chise had thought it best to keep their informal marital status quiet from most people, since she was underage. Both she and Elias wore gloves over their rings, so most folks hadn't seen them.

Stella and Ethan were staying with her grandmother while their parents were at a work retreat for the weekend. Elias was relieved; he was far more comfortable with fewer people around, even though he wore his typical human guise.

Elias could not say that he had ever developed a fondness for Stella; perhaps his jealousy and guilt had prevented it, but he had learned to appreciate her as a friend to Chise. Stella did not remember what he had tried to do to her, so she was always friendly toward him, which made him uncomfortable. If anyone had good reason to be fearful of Elias, it was Stella.

The breakfast was a pleasant affair, though. Chise had reminded Ruth to use proper table manners when he was a guest in other people's homes, and he mostly complied. Elias engaged in a cordial conversation with the grandmother, who was also a little bit of a herbalist herself. Chise enjoyed seeing Elias interact with others in a friendly way and smiled at the two of them. Ethan even asked Ruth if he wanted to kick a football around, an offer Ruth eagerly accepted, which allowed Stella and Chise some time to hang out together.

When the breakfast and visiting were over, Elias, Chise, and Ruth bade the family farewell and headed toward the train station.

"Should I stay in your shadow while we're in London?" Ruth asked as the reached the station.

"No," Chise replied, grabbing his arm before he could melt into the ground. "I want to spend my birthday with all my favorite people. You should come and have lunch with us."

"Elias wasn't invited, though," Ruth pointed out.

"Yeah, but I don't think they'll mind you being there," She said. "And even if they do, so what? It's my birthday, I can eat lunch with who I want. Come on, let's go eat awful pub food together."

Ruth smiled, a rare sight. "That sounds nice."

Elias paid for the tickets and walked her to the terminal.

"Stay safe, Chise," Elias said. "If you need anything, you know how to contact me. Call out to me and I will be at your side in an instant."

"I know," She said, kissing the facade of Simon's face on the cheek. She couldn't kiss the lips; it would feel entirely too awkward.

He took her face in his hands and kissed her forehead. "I look forward to hearing all about your trip," He said softly. "Have a wonderful time."

"Thanks, Elias. I'll be back a little while after lunch, I promise."

He nodded. "Good, that gives me time to run an errand or two."

She boarded the train and found a seat that allowed her to see Elias, standing on the terminal. He smiled and waved at her, which she mirrored. She watched him as the train pulled away, and kept watching until she could no longer see him, then sat back in her seat and sighed.

"I can't help but worry about him a little when we leave, even if it's just for a little bit," Chise said.

"He'll be fine," Ruth said, sitting next to her. "He did well enough before you came along, you know."

She looked at him sardonically. "Yeah, but he's different now. I don't think he even realized how isolated he was back then. I know he's unhappy when I'm not there. I can feel it."

"You two are insufferable," Ruth said.

"Oh, really? Like you weren't unhappy when Isabelle wasn't around?"

"That's different."

"How so?"

Ruth tried and failed to think of a retort, so he simply looked out the window.

It was a quiet ride to London.

* * *

Alice and Angelica were waiting at the station when Chise and Ruth arrived, waving excitedly. Angelica bear-hugged Chise as she approached, which popped her spine a bit, and Alice slugged Ruth on the shoulder in greeting. Ruth was used to this by now.

As it was indeed raining, as Elias had predicted, the four of them took a trolley to a pub nearby Angelica's shop, a tiny place so old that the name had eroded off of the sign in the front.

"It might look a bit dodgy, but this place has the best pub food in the city," Angelica said.

"That's not saying much," Alice whispered in Chise's ear. Chise giggled.

Inside, there were patrons of all sorts, older gentlemen drinking gin in armchairs, a group of young lads laughing and joking, a couple of middle-aged mums whose youngsters were off for the weekend.

Angelica plopped down in what she called her regular booth and had them all pile in after her.

The waitress walked up, a bright, young thing, and smiled. "What'll it be, me loves?" She asked.

"Four pies and pints, and a plate of chips to go with it, lass," Angelica said. "Throw in some pasties while your about it. We'll be ordering more later, so stop 'round often."

"Steak and ale or shepherd's?"

"Steak and ale."

"Aye, be right back." The waitress grinned and flitted off to put in the order.

"So," Angelica said, helping herself to the bowl of peanuts on the table. "How's life in the country?"

"Pretty good," Chise said. "I've gotten a lot better at the basics, and Elias is starting to introduce me to the more difficult kinds of magic. Transmutation, phase jumps, object recall, that kind of stuff."

"He's still taking the slow approach, huh?" Alice said.

"He's worried about overloading my system," Chise said defensively. "He doesn't want me doing anything my body isn't ready for yet."

"But I thought you had that weirdo 'life' curse keeping you alive," Alice said.

"That doesn't mean she can't hurt herself or damage her body in the meantime," Angelica said sternly. "If she pushes to hard, she'll regret it in the long run."

"I guess," Alice said with a sniff. "It just feels like you're going in circles to me. But I'm just an alchemist, so what do I know?"

"Don't be like that, Alice," Ruth said. "Mages and alchemists just do things differently. That's how it's always been."

"Aye, it is," Angelica said.

Their food and drink had arrived, and a very large glass of beer was set in front of Chise. She had never tried alcohol before today.

"Go ahead," Alice said, already swigging on hers.

Chise sipped a bit. It was cold and a little bitter, but it wasn't bad.

"Oh, have you and Ains figured out the whole wedding thing yet? I mean, I know the fae think you're married and all, but hadn't you mentioned you wanted to do things the proper way?" Angelica asked around a mouthful of pie.

"We're still trying to find a middle ground on that," Chise admitted. Elias and Chise had been discussing having a formal wedding ceremony that all their friends could attend, but Elias, being the hermit he was, thought a simple ceremony with just them and an officiant would be better, questioning why an "official" ceremony was necessary. After all, in the eyes of the fae, they had been married since the beginning. Chise tried to explain that the rules for humans were different, and if he wanted to better understand it, then it would be best to do things the human way. They were working on a compromise, but hadn't reached a decision yet.

"I'd be more worried about the wedding night, to be honest," Alice snorted.

Chise blushed and said without thinking, "No, that's not an issue. We have an agreement."

Both Alice and Angelica stopped chewing and stared hard at Chise. Ruth sipped his beer and said nothing.

"What does that mean, 'an agreement'?" Alice said.

"We discussed it," Chise said simply in a low voice, her blush creeping down her neck. She chose not to divulge the exact reason why the discussion had come up. "A while ago. We both agreed to wait until I was eighteen."

"You realize that's today," Alice said.

"Yes, Alice, I was actually aware of that, thank you," Chise said sarcastically.

"So… are you?" Angelica pushed.

"Am I what?"

"Going to… ugh, I can't even say it out loud," Angelica said, grimacing. "I've been friends with Ains since I was a kid. He's like a weird uncle I've had my whole life. I can't imagine him being… intimate with another person."

"But are you, though?" Alice pressed Chise.

"I don't know!" Chise said. "I don't even know if he wants to."

"Do _you_ want to?" Alice asked.

Chise deflected. "Even if I did, I don't know if Elias even understands the basics of… that," Chise admitted.

"You mean the 'birds and the bees' part?" Angelica asked. "He does. He and my dad talked about it."

"They did?"

"Yeah, years and years ago. Elias and my father were friends long before I was ever born. This was before Elias had taken up residence here, when he was still wandering ages ago. He'd visit my dad, stay for a day or two, and then be gone for a decade or so. One time, Elias came to visit, and my dad had married and I had been born. I was, oh, seven, eight maybe? The whole thing was very confusing for Elias, so my dad sat him down and explained it all."

Chise was surprised. "How long ago was that?"

"Uh, maybe about sixty years now," Angelica mused.

Alice spit out her drink. "You're _sixty_?!"

"I'm a mage, Alice," Angelica said, as though that explained everything. It did to Chise. She knew Elias was at least few hundred years old, and Lindel was even older than that. Angelica was still a kid compared to them.

"He came to my wedding, you know," Angelica continued. "Ainsworth, I mean, fourteen years ago. I remember he and my dad and David all sat together and had a long talk the day before." She scratched her chin and furrowed her brow. "I wonder if that's where he got all this bride nonsense from."

"What do you mean?"

"David told me later that Elias asked a lot of questions about the purpose of marriage, if it was something most humans sought out, how a person went about obtaining a wife. David had told him most people do want to get married, but not everybody does, but he wasn't sure Elias really understood it. I guess he was right. We certainly didn't expect him to buy a bride. I suppose David and dad should have been more specific."

"Is your dad still…?" Chise began, unsure of how to phrase it delicately.

"Alive?" Angelica finished, a knowing grin on her face. "Yeah, he is. He left the shop to me and retired to Australia twenty years ago. We go visit him once a year."

"Oh, that's good." Chise sipped her beer. "What about your mom?"

Angelica smiled sadly. "No. She was an ordinary human. Died a few years back. Cancer."

"I'm sorry," Chise replied, looking down at her glass.

"Chin up, lass," Angelica said, patting Chise's head. "That's just the way things are."

Chise nodded. Ruth look into the middle distance and sighed.

Alice looked at them in exasperation. "Well, you three are a fun bunch, aren'tcha?"

They laughed. Angelica and Alice started talking artificer jargon, and Chise tuned them out for a minute. Chise always assumed Elias was ignorant on the subject of sex, but if it had been explained to him, would he be receptive if she came to him with that intention? When they had talked, fifteen months ago, she wasn't sure. He had asked her if it was what she wanted, but he didn't mention if it was something he was interested in. Was he? How would she go about asking? What would his response be?

She looked up and saw Ruth staring at her with his eyebrow raised. She looked away and drank more beer.

Then it was present time. Angelica gave Chise a pair of goggles that showed her special wells of magic that existed everywhere, so she didn't have to rely to heavily on Ruth to do her spells. This meant she could practice magic without depleting herself in the process if she used it right. Alice gave Chise a secret switchblade that was disguised as lipstick that could cut through magical barriers. Chise thanked them over and over. It was still hard for her to accept gifts sometimes, after years of never receiving any.

After lunch, Chise and Alice walked Angelica back to her shop with the promise to visit soon and made their way to the train station under a single umbrella. Ruth had jumped into their shadow to avoid the rain.

"So," Alice asked. "Are you really thinking about boning the bonehead?"

"Could you _please_ not phrase it that way?" Chise asked in embarrassment, hiding her face.

"But are you? I mean I know you've technically been married for almost two years, but I just can't picture it. His downstairs business has to look so weird-"

"Stop talking about it!" Chise said, putting her hands over her ears.

"Well, if you can't _talk_ about it, how are you going to _do_ it?" Alice asked.

They arrived at the train station, and Chise couldn't have been happier about it. "That's my problem to deal with, isn't it?" She said dismissively.

"I guess," Alice said, giving her a quick hug. "You'll have to tell me how it goes," She said, giving Chise a cheeky wink. "Call me later."

Alice went to her train, waving behind her, as Chise stepped onto a train going in the opposite direction.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, she stepped out at the train station in the village to find Elias, in human guise, sitting on a bench and reading as though he had been there the entire time she'd been gone. It's completely possible that he had.

He looked up as she approached and smiled. "Welcome back, Chise."

"Hey," Chise said brightly, hugging him around the neck, since he was short enough at the moment to do so. He responded in kind, holding her close.

"How was your outing to London?" He asked when he released her.

"It was great," She said, holding up her bag. "Alice and Angelica bought me my first beer and gave me some really useful presents."

"How nice," Elias said. "Are you ready to go home?"

"Yes," Chise said. "I'm excited to see the surprise Silver's planning."

"I am, as well," Elias admitted to her. "She's been very secretive about it."

They walked back to the house, chatting pleasantly about her trip, when they passed by the part in the road that ran parallel to that clearing in which Elias had once found her in quite the compromising position. Her heartbeat accelerated with the memory. She wondered if he realized. He didn't seem to. He was back to normal and had the veil covering his face, discussing the results of his last experiment. She pushed it out of her mind and listened to him attentively. Now was not the time to dwell on such things.

Back at the house, there was a curtain hung over the doorway to the kitchen, clearly signifying no one was allowed in. Chise, Ruth, and Elias shared a puzzled look.

"I'll go put my presents upstairs," Chise said, turning.

Elias caught her hand. "Wait, Chise."

She turned to look at him. "What is it?"

"I have yet to give you my gift," He said. He took her arm and wrapped it around his elbow. "Come with me. Leave the bag there. You can tend to it later."

"Oh," She said, surprised. She put the bag on the floor next to the coat rack and let him lead her to the study. "Okay."

Opening the door, he walked her inside and asked, "Notice anything different?"

Chise looked around and immediately noticed a door on the right side of the room that had not previously been there.

"Where does that door go?" She asked.

"Why don't you go find out?" He asked. His irises curved, an action Chise understood was meant to be a smile.

She went to the door and opened it. Inside was a smaller room with a desk made of dark wood in the middle. The walls were lined with shelves full of books and magical instruments. On the other side, directly opposite her, there was another door, and judging from the scenery outside of the windows on either side, it seemed that door led out into the garden. It was cozy and comfortable, but Chise had never seen this room before and was confused by its sudden appearance. From the layout in her head, this room must be right next to the greenhouse, but there had been nothing there this morning.

"Did you add this on to the house?" She asked.

"Yes. It took me most of the afternoon and quite a bit of magic to pull it off, but I'm pleased with the results." He stepped in after her and laid his hand on the desk. "Now that you're growing more adept at magic, you should have your own space for study and practice, somewhere a bit more spacious than your bedroom. This is your new work room."

Chise's mouth fell open. "This is for me?"

"Yes," Elias replied, looking at her anxiously. "Do you like it?"

Chise was rendered speechless for many moments, inspecting the clean, tidy new room with the china-blue rose wallpaper and lace curtains over the windows.

"I love it," Chise said, smiling widely. She ran and jumped into Elias's arms, her feet dangling off the floor. "Oh, thank you, Elias. It's amazing. I can't believe you did this for me."

"You deserve it," He said softly. "You have been making great strides. I am very proud of you."

"You're the best. I love you."

"As I love you."

Elias set her back on her feet, and she looked up at him with a large, happy smile. He greatly enjoyed seeing this expression on her face; it almost made her glow.

She spent a great deal of time examining the books, moving things around so that it suited her better, happily settling in to her new dedicated magical office. Eventually, they heard Silver ring a bell and guessed that it was time for the special, secret dinner Silver had been working so hard on.

They walked out into the hallway, and Chise smelled a familiar smell that she couldn't place. The curtain that had hung in the kitchen had been removed, and the dinner table was full of covered dishes.

"Silver, you really didn't have to go to all this trouble," Chise said. Silver waved a hand in an _it's nothing_ gesture and motioned for them to sit. They did so, and Silver whipped the covers off with a flourish. Chise gasped.

Before them lay many traditional Japanese dishes. Norimaki sushi, vegetable tempura, okonomiyaki, onigiri, kamameshi, even red bean anpan and flavored mochi flowers, no doubt all made entirely from scratch. She had even managed to find chopsticks from somewhere.

Chise dragged her fingers down her face in delight. "Silver, this looks incredible, thank you so much!"

Ruth sat looking at the food. "I've never seen any of this before. What is it?"

"It's Japanese cuisine," Chise said, taking a pair of chopsticks and snapping them apart.

"Where are the utensils?" Elias asked.

"Right here," she said, holding up her chopsticks, perfectly poised in her right hand.

Elias and Ruth sat there, looking at her blankly. She giggled, and what followed was a very silly and slightly messy lesson in the use of chopsticks. Elias eventually managed it well enough after several failed attempts, though Ruth gave up halfway and just used his hands. Chise was so thrilled; she missed very little about Japan, but the food of her country was one thing that lay squarely in the small well of nostalgia she harbored for her homeland.

Dinner had been a wonderful treat, and Chise was sure to give the silky a big hug of thanks, which Silver accepted happily. Afterward, they went into the sitting room. Ruth curled up in front of the fire while Elias sat in his chair with Chise sitting comfortably in his lap. They opened a book about magical creatures that often aided mages, not just fae creatures, but also merpeople, leprechauns, and unicorns.

Chise admitted surprise that unicorns were real, though she felt a bit silly not realizing. Elias conveyed sadly that they were as rare as dragons these days and just as likely to die off. Actually more so, since the only beings capable of taking care of unicorns were virginal maids who were pure of heart. There was no sanctuary for them like there was for the dragons. Chise reflected on this wistfully.

The hour grew late and Chise became quieter. Elias noticed this. Taking her chin in his hand, he lifted her face to meet his gaze.

"Was your birthday a good one?" He asked.

"The best," She said happily. "The best of my whole life. I never thought I'd have so many people in my life who care about me so much. I'm so grateful for everything I have."

He touched his forehead to hers, and she stroked the underside of his skull softly.

"I'm glad," He replied gently. "Your happiness means a great deal to me."

She smiled. "I'm so happy, happier than I have ever been in all my life."

They sat in silence, cuddling each other close, listening to the clinking of the dishes in the kitchen as Silver tidied up for the night.

"It's late," Elias said, though he made no move to get up. "I imagine you are tired. Would you like to go to bed?"

She didn't answer immediately. He could feel her heart rate climb suddenly.

"Chise?"

"Elias," Chise said quietly, as though she didn't want Silver to hear. "Would it be okay if I slept in with you tonight?"

Elias was unsure why she was being so subversive, and also why she was blushing, but he replied, "Of course."

"Okay," She said, taking a big breath. "I'm going to take a bath, then."

"This late?" He asked. "You normally bathe in the morning."

"Oh, yes," She said, the blush moving further down her face and onto her neck. "But it's been a long day. I feel kind of grimy. I don't want to get the bed dirty."

"Oh. All right."

She nodded and quickly ran up the stairs to the bathroom on the second floor. Ruth didn't follow her, but instead lay down in front of the fire.

"Are you going up?" He asked.

"Nope," Ruth replied, settling in. "I'm fine here."

"Hmm," Elias hummed. They were both acting rather odd. Shrugging it off, he went upstairs to his room.

He sat down on the bed and removed his shoes and socks, setting the shoes aside and tossing the socks into a basket. He stood and walked to his wardrobe, taking out his sleeping clothes and laying them on the bureau, then reached up and untied the gold cord that kept the red veil attached to his horns, setting it down as well.

Just as he took hold of the top button of his waistcoat, he heard an knock at the door.

 _That was fast_ , he thought. "Come in."

Chise opened the door, wearing a bathrobe, and shut it behind her. He couldn't help but notice her hair was dry. She was looking at the floor, timid and… _shaking_?

"Are you all right?" He asked in concern.

She gulped and looked up at him, clutching the collar of the bathrobe.

"I'm eighteen today," She said.

"Yes, I am aware of that," He replied, confused.

She paused to take a calming breath and stepped forward. "Do you remember the conversation we had many months ago? When you found me alone in that clearing?"

Oh. _Oh_. "I… yes. I do remember."

"Well, I've been thinking about it a lot recently and I think… I think I'm ready. To be with you. To be… intimate… with you."

Elias was speechless. He had not expected this. He stared at her slight, shivering form, trying and failing to respond.

She seemed to take his silence as rejection. "B-but… if you don't feel like you're ready, that's okay. We don't have to… we can wait as long as you want. There's no rush." She covered her eyes with her left hand, the one that bear the ring. "I'm sorry, this was a mistake. I'll go back to my room." Avoiding his eye, she spun quickly and reached for the door handle.

"Wait."

She stopped and stood there, with her back to him. He could feel her embarrassment in the stiffness of her posture.

"I… I will admit that I had put this particular subject out of my mind," Elias said. "It's not that I had forgotten, it's more that we had a set timetable and dwelling on it in the meantime would have been… uncomfortable for me. I had that felt when you were ready, you would come to me, as you have just done. When I thought of today, I did not see past the planned festivities. After all, you will be eighteen for an entire year. I did not know at what point during that year we would decide to move forward with this arrangement. I was just… surprised that this day has come so soon. "

She turned to face him, her face red. "We can wait-"

"No," He said. "If you feel you are ready, then I am willing to try. Although, I'm not in any way familiar with this practice and not at all certain how well I will… perform."

"That's okay," She said. "I don't know all that much about it either, aside from what I've seen."

"Seen?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, the last group home I lived in, one of my roommates used to sneak her boyfriend in, and they were not at all shy about being seen, let me tell you. So I know the basic mechanics of it all. I've just never done it before."

"That makes two of us."

She took his hands in hers and brought them up to her lips. "Are you sure about this, Elias? I don't want you to agree just because it's what I want. It should be what you want, too."

"It is," Elias said gently. "To be honest, I did try experimenting with myself as you suggested, but I had very little success. I would like you to help me determine what it is I am doing wrong."

"You did? You never told me about it."

"I did not want to admit that I had failed. I tried to do what I had observed you doing in the forest, but it didn't quite work the same way for me."

She paused. "Did you try the exact thing I did?"

"Yes."

"Well, that might be were you went wrong, then. Boys and girls don't do that in the same way."

"They don't?"

Chise laughed nervously. "No, it's much different."

"Then how do males do it?"

Chise's blush returned. "I… could show you, if you'd like."

Elias considered it. "…I think I would enjoy that."

"Okay," She said in a shaky breath. "Um… wait here for a sec, okay?"

"All right," He replied, puzzled.

Chise opened the door and ran across to her room, riffling through her desk drawer for the lotion she used on her cursed arm to keep if from getting dry and cracking. She skipped on tip-toe back to Elias's room and closed the door, locking it behind her.

 _This is it_ , she thought. _We're really going to do this._

"So… how do we… start the process?" Elias asked. He seemed hesitant and unsure of himself. Was he nervous?

Chise straightened her spine, took a step forward, and reached for the top button of his waistcoat, looking up at him for approval before proceeding. He nodded. She undid the buttons and instructed him to take it off. She then took off his gloves, slowly, finger by finger, hand by hand, and laid them on the bureau, also undoing the buttons on his sleeves as she went. She smiled up at him shyly.

"I can't reach the high buttons," She said. "You'll have to get those. We can meet in the middle."

He took off his bolo tie and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt as she pulled the shirttail from his trousers and started on the buttons at the bottom. Halfway up, their hands met and stilled. She ran her fingers up his arms and pulled at the fabric of the shirt until it fell away to the floor, leaving his top half exposed.

He gazed down at her, gauging her reaction as she looked as his body, half-expecting to see revulsion or disgust on her face. But there wasn't a trace of either to be found in her eyes; there was only curiosity and a side smile that seemed to indicate that she was pleased with what she saw. She put her delicate hand on the purple-black skin of his chest, just under his collarbone, and slowly let her fingers drift downward, feeling the muscle and scaled texture of his flesh with an air of exploring some new, undiscovered territory, wide-eyed and inquisitive. His entire body shivered at the soft, probing gentleness of her touch. He felt a fluttering in his stomach and a thumping in his chest.

Her hand stopped at his belt buckle, and again she looked up at him questioningly, as if asking for permission, which he gave. She unlatched the belt and drew it out of the loops on his trousers, then, much more tentatively, she undid the button and the zipper, letting the garment fall to his feet. She unlaced the drawstring of his undergarments and pulled them down, kneeling to free his legs of them.

She looked up at him, her eyes wide, carefully avoiding looking directly at his private area, and instead fixed her eyes on his face. She held his gaze as she slowly rose up and stood straight again. He laid his hands on her shoulders. Her heartbeat and breathing accelerated.

"My turn," Elias said softly.

Chise smiled and let out a breathy, nervous laugh. "I'm afraid I didn't leave much for you to do."

Elias tilted his head and pulled at the robe's belt. As the robe fell away, Chise was revealed to be entirely nude underneath.

Elias chuckled softly. "A shame. I think I rather enjoy this undressing ritual."

She smiled, though she was still trembling. "I'll remember that next time."

Elias was again silenced by her words. He had a hard enough time trying to wrap his mind around the fact that this was actually happening _right now_ , let alone contemplate the fact that there would be a _next time_.

"I would like that," He whispered. "What is the next step?"

She motioned at his bed. "We get comfortable, I guess."

"Right," He said, making his way to the bed and sitting down. She was still trying her hardest to ignore that space between his legs, and turned to pick up the lotion. She went around to the other side and climbed in, trying to quell her nerves.

She fluffed up the pillows on his side and instructed him to sit back and get as comfortable as he could. He obeyed. She squeezed a generous amount of the lotion into her right hand, using her left to spread it around evenly.

It was only then that she looked at his figure full on. The organ that lay limp in his lap was large; she had expected as much, but it was still intimidating. She was rather glad they were taking a slower approach. That looked like it could be painful if they rush right to the main event.

It was as dark purple as the rest of him, but smooth rather than scaled. She was grateful for that. If it had been scaly, it could have done her some serious internal damage. Otherwise it looked relatively normal. Well, as far as she knew. It wasn't like she had seen all that many.

Elias sat in repose and watched her with curiosity.

"What is the lotion for?" Elias asked.

"I'm not entirely sure," Chise admitted. "Something to do with friction, I think."

"Ah."

She took a deep breath and gulped. Looking up into his eyes, she asked again, "Are you sure this is what you want?"

"Yes, Chise, it is," He replied. He caressed her face. "I have been looking forward to this since we discussed it over a year ago."

"If you're ever uncomfortable or you don't like what I'm doing, you can tell me," Chise said. "We can stop at any time, all you have to do is say so."

"The same goes for you," Elias said. "With the exception of this experiment, I don't intend to be passive for the entire act. If, when I am in control, I do something that displeases you, please tell me."

She nodded. "Ready?"

"I'm ready, yes," He replied.

She took a deep breath and sighed. "Okay. I'm just reminding you, I've never done this before. I may not be any good at it. I just don't want you to be disappointed."

"It's all right," he said. "It's an experiment. Experiments don't always work the way you want them to, and if not, you can try again. It's how we learn."

She nodded again, taking this in with a tremulous smile. She positioned herself so that she was kneeling on the bed faced toward him at his midsection. Cautiously, she reached over and touched him.

She started slowly, drawing a single finger up and down the length of the shaft. He hummed in a way she thought might be appreciative, but she wasn't sure. It wasn't until she wrapped her hand around it that she heard him suck in his breath sharply. She could feel it jump and stiffen in her hand.

"Is that good or bad?" She asked.

"Good," He said a little breathlessly. She couldn't see the red pinpricks of light that were his eyes.

Nodding with determination, she pulled her hand up and then back down again, feeling it become solid beneath her fingers. The skin moved with her hand, but the muscle underneath did not. It was rather thrilling to feel how substantial he was and how it pulsed with each rub up and down. She continued the stroking motion slowly, until she was sure he was responding positively to it, and then sped up a little.

"Do you want to try?" She asked him.

"I may another time," He said, though his capacity for coherent thought was falling away. "I quite like letting you do it."

His breathing was uneven. The muscles in his stomach twitched. She didn't know if these were good signs, but he wasn't protesting, so she continued.

He was struck dumb with the pleasure of her touch. He had never felt these sensations bubbling up in his body before, and it was enthralling. He remembered her mentioning that in a dream, they had touched each other, and the thought intrigued him.

His irises reappeared and he focused on her. "May I… touch you, too?"

Her rhythm slowed for a moment in surprise, but she nodded. His hand, the one closest to her, moved to reach the spot between her legs and cupped the sensitive space gently.

"Show me where," He said.

She kept her grip on him, continuing her steady up and down motion, but with her other hand, she guided his to the sweet spot she had been sitting on. She pushed his fingers to the place where she derived most of her pleasure.

"Do you feel that, right there?" She asked.

"Yes."

"Small circles, light pressure to start with."

He complied, and her reaction was immediate. Though she kept up her grip and movement on him, she fell forward slightly, gasping, resting her head on his arm. Her breath drifted across his bare body and set his nerves to a tingle. Her free hand gripped his upper arm to steady herself.

"Good?" He asked.

"Yes," She whispered.

Now that they both had a matching rhythm, Elias took his cues from her. When she sped up, so did he. When she gripped him harder, he applied more pressure. When she moaned, he himself started to emit noises over which he had little control: grunts, groans, and a growling sort of humming.

His hips twitched and drove themselves upward in an almost involuntary way. There was a building tension rising up in his body, a hot, thrilling sensation that made the muscles in his legs and torso become taut and rigid. He had observed this in Chise when he had found her in the clearing. He understood it now.

"Chise, I…" Elias started, having difficulty forming words around the feeling of him throbbing in her grasp, and he put his hand over hers to stop her. "I want… I want to…"

She pulled her head up from his shoulder and looked into his eyes, half-lidded and hungry. She nodded. She let go of him and lay down on the bed, her breasts rocking to and fro as she breathed. He looked down her body, at the legs lifted and parted, waiting for him, and the place between. She was still nervous, he could tell, but she was also eager and ready.

As he changed positions, she leaned up to kiss, suck, and gently bite at the skin of his neck and collarbone. The feeling of this was indescribable and cause his skin to prickle and jolt, like he'd been electrified.

He wanted so badly to do the same to her, to kiss his way down her body, so without thinking, he began to rearranged his face into one of his human guises, the regular one he had borrowed from Simon.

She sat up immediately and recoiled. "Why did you do that?"

He hadn't expected that reaction. "I want to kiss you, as you kiss me," He said. "My normal form cannot do this, so I'm improvising."

She shook her head fervently. "No, please don't do that! Looking at that face, it'll be like kissing Simon. It's too weird."

"Should I try a different face?"

"No! No faces, no glamours. I want to be with you as you are. You don't need lips to kiss me. Just used your tongue."

Taken aback, he took on his normal humanoid form, with the skull and purple skin.

She sighed in relief and smiled, lying back down and reaching for him. "Much better."

"I don't understand," Elias said uncertainly, resting in her embrace.

"Like this," She replied, and she drew her tongue over the bones of his clavicle and traced a slow line up his neck to the edge of his jaw. The feeling it left on his skin was like fire, tantalizing.

"I thought you disliked it when I used my tongue on you," He said, remembering the few times he had done so to stop an injury from bleeding.

"This is different."

He considered her and pushed himself up. She lay back down on the pillow and looked at him, waiting. Watching her face closely, he let his tongue touch her skin and press itself across her body, starting just below her belly button and moving upward. When he reached her collarbone, he nipped at it gently with his front teeth, careful not to exert too much pressure and hurt her.

She closed her eyes and bit her lip, lifting her chin so that her neck was exposed. His tongue licked from her collarbone, over her neck, to the base of her ear. He nipped at her lightly; her earlobe, her jawline, her neck. He stamped down hard on a sudden urge to put his jaws around her throat.

Her hand moved to touch her breasts.

"Here," She said softly.

He touched his tongue very lightly to the peak of her breast, the skin of it hardening at the contact. He flicked his tongue back and forth over it and received a favorable reaction: a pleased smile and shuddering exhale. He took it between his teeth and pulled very gently, letting it snap back with a bounce. She giggled.

He moved so that he was sitting on his knees with her lying directly in front of him, her legs resting on either side of his hips. His eyes were drawn to the junction where her legs joined the rest of her body, the wet, heady fragrance overtaking his senses. He wanted to taste.

"Tell me," He asked her. "Do tongues work in the same manner as fingers do for stimulation?"

Her eyes widened, but she nodded.

"May I?"

She nodded again, watching him.

He bent down low and hooked his arms under her hips and lifted them so that her legs were draped over his shoulders, then wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her in place. He bend his head, letting his tongue snake out of his mouth and touch itself to that soft, most sensitive part of her body. He took a long lick of the area, tasting the sweet tang of the warm essence her body created.

The effect of this action was intriguing to watch. A great, long moan erupted from her and she nearly lifted herself off the bed, the sheets balled up in her small hands.

"Should I continue this?" He asked her.

"Yes," She replied in a breathy whisper. "Please."

His tongue massaged that warm place and her hips moved in time with the strokes. She struggled to stifle her cries of excitement, but he delighted in hearing them. As he drew his tongue up, over, and down repeatedly, he could feel there was an opening, an entrance. Deciding to be adventurous, he let his tongue slip inside. At this, she very nearly screamed, her body propelled upward to sit and she grabbed him by his horns.

"Stop?" He asked.

"God, no," She breathed. "In and out."

He did as he was instructed, allowing his tongue to slither into the overheated, fleshy chamber within and back out again, savoring the flavor and aroma of her body. She gripped his horns and held him in place while she panted and shook.

The heat was rising up again. He could feel his body twitching and throbbing with an urgent need that pushed all thought out of his brain.

"Chise…" He said in a choked voice. "I need to-"

She pulled him upward by his horns so that they were face to face and laid back down on the bed, with Elias poised above her. He braced himself on his hands, placed on either side of her head.

She was breathing very heavily and still whimpering slightly, and she nodded her head. "I'm ready," She gasped. Reaching down, she took hold of him and readjusted herself so that he was positioned just outside her opening.

"Gently," She breathed into his ear.

Elias, feeling her lead him in, slowly and carefully applied pressure until he felt the tip enter her. She inhaled sharply.

"Is it painful?" He asked anxiously.

"No, not exactly," She huffed. "There's a pinch and a pressure, but it's not pain."

"Should I stop?"

"No. It's okay. I want this." Her arms wrapped themselves around his neck and her hips tilted upward, allowing a better angle for him to enter.

He gently pushed himself farther in. The warmth and grip of the muscles inside were like nothing he'd ever experienced. He stayed that way for a moment, joined with her, not moving, and soaked up the warmth of her body. His arms gripped her tightly, his forehead pressed against hers.

Slowly, he began to pull himself back, and then push in again and again. Her breathing changed to match this rhythm. She held his eye as all this took place, both of them observing the other's reaction. She entwined her fingers with his right hand, holding it against the bed above their heads, and used the other to place his left hand on her breast, showing him how to massage and stimulated it.

It started slow and careful, with Elias keeping a steady motion for fear of hurting her. It wasn't until he heard her cry _Faster!_ that he began to move with more confidence.

They were now at a stage where questions and instructions were less necessary. He could feel the building of an intense pressure in his body, powerful and consuming, and at the same time felt the muscles on both the inside and outside of Chise become tight and tense. The sounds she made were exquisite to the ear, and she had stopped trying to muffle them.

The pressure increased, rising and rising. He had no idea what it was, but he didn't want it to stop. It pushed him to thrust faster, harder, to lock Chise's body in place with his arms until it rushed over him. Chise herself was clinging to him desperately, her nails digging into his skin of his back, crying out in the same rhythm. Her muscles were contracting, clamping down on him from the inside, and he thought she must be sensing this wave coming, too.

"Chise," He said in an unsteady voice. "Something… I feel… it's…"

"It's okay," She managed to say between moans. "It's supposed to happen. Let it."

As she said this, an explosion of sensation flooded his whole body, originating from that sweltering place where they were joined. His muscles locked up and he felt his hips jerk against hers, leaving him grunting with the effort. He sensed something leave his body and enter hers every time he felt the throb of climax, but he couldn't pay much attention to it. His brain had stopped working properly.

It was only after Chise went limp underneath him that he realized she had experienced the same sensations. He collapsed onto her, while still giving her space to breath, their bodies still entangled in each other, holding on for dear life. Neither of them could do anything except gasp for breath.

Shakily, he picked himself up and looked down at Chise, flushed and sweating, lying motionless under him.

"Are you all right?" He asked her softly.

She opened her eyes and looked at him with a sleepy smile, stretching her arms above her head. "I'm _wonderful_." Her smile faded and she took his face in her hands. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," He replied, brushing her damp hair out of her eyes. "I am… I do not know what I am. But I feel… good."

"Did you… enjoy the experience?" Chise asked cautiously.

"That would be an understatement," Elias said with a chuckle. "I have never felt anything like that before. Is it always like that?"

She giggled. "If you do it right, I guess." She sat up and laid a kiss above his teeth but under his nose. "How do you feel?"

"Tired," He reflected. "But invigorated. And… very relaxed."

"Yeah, that's pretty normal," She replied. "At least, it is for me. I guess we could call this experiment a success."

"Indeed," He said.

The bedding was a mess, but he straightened it as best he could, and lay down on his belly, pulling her to him. As she cuddled up close to him, he pulled the covers over them and snugged her face into his neck, pecking kisses on his skin.

"I hope this is just a rest and you don't plan on going to sleep," She said playfully.

"Why is that?" He asked.

"I've got another experiment I've heard about that I'd like to try. Involving my mouth," She breathed a laugh across his flesh.

"Sounds intriguing," He said, laying his head on the pillow, enjoying the feeling of her bare skin against his. "I look forward to it."

There was little sleep for either of them that night. After all, experiments take time, and there were many such experiments to try.

* * *

The next morning, they emerged tired but happy. If Silver noticed a difference in them, she didn't comment on it. Not that she would. Ruth had an air of being rather above it all, but he was happy that Chise was happy.

They spent the day in a strange sort of blissful trance, wanting nothing more than to touch and cuddle and be close to one another. They didn't talk much, but they didn't need to. They were content just to be together.

Around midday, while they sat at the table in the garden, eating lunch, Elias said suddenly, "Oh, I'd nearly forgot. I have another gift for you."

"Elias, you don't have to spoil me like this. I'm more than happy with everything you've already given me," Chise protested.

"Yes, but I think you may like this one," He said. He reached into the pocket of his waistcoat and handed her an envelope.

Chise took it with a smile, narrowing her eyes at him. Opening it, she saw a card. It was white with silvery lettering, with a little bird at the top sitting in a nest of thorns.

"You are hereby invited to the…" She stopped and stared at the paper, her mouth hanging open in shock. "This is a wedding invitation. Elias, are you serious?"

"Yes," He said, watching her reaction. "I wanted you to approve the design before I sent them out. You must also provide me with a list of people you wish to attend. As you know, if it were up to me, the only people in attendance would be the two of us."

Chise stood up and sat herself in his lap, hugging him tightly. He could hear her sniffling.

"Are these happy tears?" He asked anxiously, wrapping her up in his robe.

"Yes," She said, looking up at him. "Very, very happy."

Humans were so odd. There were tears streaking down her face, but yet she had the biggest smile. It would be some time before that seemed normal to him.

Her smiled turned from happy to mischievous. "Race you upstairs," She said coyly.

"Why would we… oh," He caught on as she began to run for the house, giggling. Standing, he started toward the house at a brisk trot.

He thought he might like this new aspect of their relationship. He would like it a lot.


	6. A New Generation (Pt 1)

Elias sat in his regular chair in the sitting room, reading a short note Simon had given him, while Simon sat on the couch across from him, watching him tersely. Another absurd assignment from the Church, something to do with a group of satyrs taking up residence in a convent in Italy. Elias sighed.

"I'm sorry it's such short notice," Simon said. "I would really rather have waited until Chise returned from her trip, but my superiors are adamant that this needs immediate attention. When is she due back, anyway? She's been gone more than a week."

"It is difficult to be certain," Elias said morosely. He was infinitely more aware of the passage of time when Chise was away, and he rather disliked it. "Over the last seven years, she has taken a personal interest in maintaining the dragon population. She visits the aerie often and has become a great asset to Lindel. With her help, the dragons are more prolific than they have been in many decades. She assists Lindel with the hatching of each year's clutch of dragon eggs. Last year it only took four days, but the year before that, she was gone for nearly three weeks."

"Don't you usually go with her when she visits the aerie?"

"Most of the time, yes, but not always. I'm more hindrance than help in this case. The dragon eggs need delicate care and diligent supervision. I am, you might say, under qualified. Chise is much better at caring for the young ones that I am."

"Ah," Simon replied. "Yes, I would suppose so." Simon smiled in a way that seemed to be reassuring. "At least you know she'll make a good mom in the future."

Elias did not reply. The thought made him squirm, but whether it was curiosity or distaste, he was unsure.

Children, or more specifically having a child, was not a subject Elias and Chise ever discussed, and it was unlikely they ever would. He didn't know if he was even capable of reproducing and wasn't certain he wanted to find out. He had no idea what form his offspring would take. Would they look human or would they be… like him? A half-thing, cursed and despised. The thought was disconcerting.

Chise herself, given her history with her own parents, was uninterested in discovering if she would turn out to be cut from the same cowardly cloth as they were. She had still never found out what happened to her father and brother, though he knew she thought of it often. Elias, even with his limited grasp of human behavior, understood her anger and feelings of betrayal. Even to him, bringing life into the world only to abandon it with no warning or protection seemed wrong and… well, inhuman. Trying to destroy that life seemed doubly so.

Simon seemed to realize he'd said something awkward, so motioned at the note still in Elias's grasp in a heavy handed effort to change the subject. "So, what are your thoughts? Can you help?"

"Very well," Elias sighed, standing. "Most of the spring work has been done, and it's too early to begin preparing for summer, so I don't have much left to do this season until Chise returns. I might as well look into it."

"Great!" Simon said, allowing himself to be pulled up from the couch and led to the door by Silver. "I'll tell them you're on the job. Oh, and when Chise gets back, let her know the sisters want her to come by for tea."

"I will," Elias said.

He stood in the doorway of the sitting room and watched Silver push Simon out and shut the door behind him with a sharp snap.

"Silver, prepare my travel bag for me. I'm going to write a note for Chise. Please make sure she gets it in the event she returns before I do."

The silky nodded and floated into the kitchen, putting together a small meal for him to take along. He walked to his study and bent over his desk, penning a short message to leave with Silver.

 _Chise,_

 _Simon has given me an errand from the Church and is emphatic that it must be dealt with expediently. I do not expect it to take much time, but if you return home and I am not here, rest assured that I will not be long away._

 _I am anxious to see you again, dear one._

 _Yours eternally,  
Elias_

He folded the missive and gave it to Silver, then shouldered the robe and took the bag she offered, stowing it inside a hidden pocket of his robe.

"I should be back before morning," He told her, and she nodded. Stepping out into the cool, early April afternoon, he summoned his staff from thin air, twirled it sharply, and tapped it twice against the ground. There was a flash of blue light, a tangle of thorns, and he was gone.

* * *

"Wonderful," Lindel said brightly, lifting a small newborn gwee up in his arms. It squealed happily at him. "Nineteen new little ones this year, all perfectly healthy, and we only lost one egg to the freeze."

Chise looked up at him, washing the goo from the last freshly hatched uil. She was taller, tanner, with longer hair braided behind her back, and sharper eyes. She'd grown into a very confident woman over the last seven years, some of which was thanks to Elias and the friends she had made, but mostly it was due to her taking control of her own life and future. She was no longer letting anyone, even Elias, determine what she could and couldn't do. She always informed him of her intentions, as every spouse should, but no longer asked him for his permission. She was her own person, and being married to him didn't change that.

It had taken a while for Elias to accept this, but once he had, they were both the happier for it. She still sometimes did things that confused and frustrated him, but that, she told him, was just the price of being married to her.

The sky was clear and it was a fairly warm day for the aerie, although that wasn't saying much. Ruth was there in his human form, helping Chise hold the very large baby from the other side, grimacing a bit at the stickiness.

Chise smiled. "It's been a good year," She agreed. "I'm happy we managed to figure out what was causing the scale rot before the dragons started laying. It could have destroyed this year's clutch altogether."

"Yes, that would have been a terrible tragedy," Lindel replied, his face falling. "I remember many decades ago, there was an awful illness that caused infertility among many of the species. The dragons didn't lay eggs for nearly twelve years. Two different types of dragon went extinct. It was a dreadful loss for the aerie. I hope I never witness another such cataclysm in my time here." But his smile returned when he looked down at her. "I have you to thank for all this prosperity, Chise. Your assistance these past few years has been invaluable. If you weren't bonded to Thorn, I'd snatch you up to be my successor in a heartbeat."

Chise grinned. "Sorry, Lindel." She let the uil go and stood up. The little dragon, already able to stand and run, went straight to it's parents. "To be honest, I'm kind of eager to get home. Elias turns into a bit of a sad sack when I'm not there."

Lindel's smile widened. "I have no doubt. But must you leave right away? Couldn't you at least take a farewell meal with me before you go?"

Ruth looked at her a little desperately. Reindeer and potato stew was good, and Lindel was a fine cook, but the same thing every night for days was wearing on the grim. He dearly missed Silver Lady's cooking.

Chise ignored him. "Of course, Lindel."

Ruth sighed in dismay.

Chise and Ruth joined Lindel for lunch, which as usual was soup and a song. Lindel and Chise had developed a habit of singing together while they worked. Lindel delighted in teaching her songs in various Scandinavian languages, and Chise reciprocated by teaching him some of her favorite Japanese tunes. Chise encouraged Ruth to join in, but he insisted he had no voice for singing.

Lindel bade them a cheery goodbye and asked them to visit again soon. After promising to do so, Chise summoned a transportation spell. She was much stronger at the intermediate spells now, and was moving on to the more difficult and dangerous aspects of spellcraft. She had been Elias's apprentice for a good nine years now, but proper apprenticeships lasted decades. She wouldn't be a fully realized mage for many years yet.

A subtle, rosy light like sunset surrounded Chise and Ruth, the magic within it twinkling like the first stars at twilight, and when it subsided, they were standing in the courtyard of their home.

Silver was out front, sweeping the path, and dropped the broom as soon as she saw Chise, throwing herself at the mageling. Chise hugged her back tightly.

"Hey there, Silver. I missed you, too." Chise released her. "Is Elias home?"

Silver shook her head and gave Chise Elias's note. Silver then hugged Ruth too. Ruth blushed.

"Oh," Chise said as she read the letter, disappointed. "I guess there was no reason for me to rush home, then." She sighed. "Well, he said he wouldn't be long. Come on, Ruth. Let's go check on the garden. I hope Elias remembered to tend to the herbs; he completely forgot about them last year. If it wasn't for Silver, we'd have had to spend a fortune to replace them."

"Can we stop for a snack first?" Ruth insisted, carefully tiptoeing toward the front door.

Chise rolled her eyes. "Oh, all right. Go on."

Ruth happily trotted after Silver, who was already in the kitchen making some sandwiches and tea. Chise shook her head with a smile and followed them.

* * *

It was late into the night when Elias returned home. The lights were out; even Silver had gone to bed. Stepping inside, he looked around and was both surprised and delighted to find Chise's coat hanging from the rack.

 _She's home._

Vaulting up the stairs, he opened their bedroom door and saw his wife sleeping on her back on the opposite side of the bed. His heart lifted at the sight of her and he breathed a sigh of relief. _Finally._

He carefully stepped around Ruth, who was sleeping on a special cushion Chise had made for him at the foot of the bed, and sat down next to Chise's sleeping body. Taking off his gloves, he drew the covers down and let a hand slip under the fabric of her pajama top. A slow, sleepy smile appeared on her face, and she stretched, opening her eyes.

"Welcome home, Elias," She said, reaching for him.

"Welcome home, Chise," Elias replied, holding her to him tightly.

"Ruth, scram," Chise called.

Ruth sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I'm going," He said, mildly annoyed. He melted into shadow and squeezed himself under the door.

Quickly, they began to undress each other, breathing heavily. Chise's lips found his skin, and Elias's tongue found hers. Once they got rid of their clothes, Elias flipped her onto her stomach and pulled her hips toward him, so that she was kneeling with her head pressed into the mattress.

His tongue slithered out and teased the most tender area of her body, and she sucked in a breath, grabbing fistfuls of the the sheets. He was well practiced in the art of pleasing her by this point in their marriage, although they still liked to experiment with new things every so often.

Elias reached down and put his hand around her throat, applying a gentle pressure and pulling her up so that her back was flush with his front. He held her there as he entered her, reveling in the sound she made as he did so. She reached her right hand around to grab his neck and used the left to grip the headboard, steadying herself.

He reached his other hand between her legs to touch and tickle her as he thrust, his large fingers massaging the bundle of nerves that lay there, making her body quiver against him.

"I missed you," He whispered into her ear.

She laughed between gasps. "I can tell," She said breathlessly. "I missed you."

At these words, he sped up, and she could no longer speak. He kept his grip on her neck while her hands reached to hold her breasts, rubbing and tugging on them as her cries got louder. He could feel the muscles inside her body clamping down, and realized she was already close to the breaking point. His fingers kept up their pressure, but quickened to a frantic pace. Her eyes closed, her brow furrowed, and her mouth fell open as he felt her reach the apex of her pleasure.

One of her hands covered his in the space between her legs and stilled them, her hips rocking over them and she gasped, "Slow! Slow!"

He slowed his thrusts to a stop and let her hips pull him in and out as the orgasm overtook her, and she used his hand to gently press her in a calm circular motion.

Collapsing to the bed, she rolled him so that he was laying sidelong and she was straddling him. He gripped her hips as she began to move again, bending her head to kiss and lick his skin. Letting her take over, he lay there and enjoyed the sensation of her confident touches. He very much liked it when she took charge, and gave over to the feelings she evoked in him.

Her body rocked over his faster and faster, and he felt the exquisite sensation of satisfaction rising up in his flesh. Deep in his chest, a deep thrumming began as she braced her arms against him, completely engrossed in her own pleasure. As her body came down to take him back in, his hips rose up to meet hers, over and over.

Their rhythm was now well synchronized over the years they'd been together and if nothing else, it was very efficient. His grip on her hips tightened as he felt the rush of ecstasy wash over him. He grunted and strained, his body rigid. She cried out, her motions slowing down but still intense and deliberate, until she went limp and fell against him, trembling and trying to catch her breath.

As they relaxed and gulped in breaths, he enfolded her in his arms, nuzzling her head. How was it possible to feel so much for one person? He didn't know. They'd been true husband and wife for quite a while, yet the love he felt for her was still new and astonishing to him. He pondered if the wonder of it would ever wear off. He doubted it.

She moved a little, readjusting herself on top of him, and looked up. "So, how was your day?"

"Eventful," He replied. "An interesting case in Italy. Satyrs."

She sat up and gazed down and him, smiling. "Satyrs?"

"Yes," He replied, playing with her hair. "They had been attempting to seduce nuns. They like the challenge, apparently."

"They were no match for you, I'm sure," She said fondly.

"Naturally," He replied.

He made to change positions, but he realized he was still inside her. She carefully extricated herself from him with a soft sigh of residual pleasure and moved so that he could sit up.

"How was your trip to the aerie?" He asked her in return.

"It was great," She said, pulling the sheets back across the bed and getting under the covers. "We had nineteen newborns this season. Twice as many as last year. And winter only claimed one egg."

"A bountiful season, then," He replied, scooting close to her warm body and lying down. "Lindel must be pleased."

"He is," Chise said. She rested her head against his shoulder and sighed. "And I am very tired."

"Yes," Elias agreed. "As am I. It has been a long day. Let us sleep."

"Sounds good to me," Chise replied, settling in.

When they found their sleeping positions and were still, Elias said, "I'm happy you have come home. Any moment you are gone is a moment too long."

Chise smiled sleepily. "You sweet talker." She hugged him in tighter. "I'm glad to be home, too."

* * *

The month of May was at it's end and with it came plenty of work: summer was on it's way and preparations must be made. Chise spent a lot of time in the garden, and Elias took up the job of clearing old, dead trees from the woods around the house so that the new growth could flourish. The dead wood was better for using in magic and firewood because most of the living trees were claimed by the fae as homes. Taking a live tree while something was living in it was considered unforgivably rude and was ample cause to play tricks or lay a curse on the thief.

One afternoon, as he dragged a rather large dead cypress behind him, he came out of the forest to find Chise sitting in a patio chair, apron and gloves on, clippers in hand, but fast asleep. Ruth was also asleep, sitting in the shade of the house.

Elias dropped the tree and walked over to her, brushing the hair out of her eyes.

"Chise?"

She came awake with a sharp inhale of breath. "Oh. Elias," She said, rubbing her eyes and standing. "Sorry, I must have dozed off."

"Are you feeling all right?" He asked her.

"Yeah," She said. "I just felt kind of tired, so I sat down to take a break. I guess I nodded off, but I hadn't mean to."

"Hmm," He hummed. "Perhaps you've done enough gardening for the day. Why don't you go inside and have some tea? I'll be in after I've finished cutting up the wood." He motioned at the dead cypress.

"You know, I think I might," Chise said. "I still feel kind of tired. I didn't sleep all that well last night. Weird dreams. That must be why."

She shucked off her apron and gloves, stowing them in the garden shed, and walked inside. Ruth didn't wake up.

After cutting and stacking the wood, Elias went inside to find Chise curled up on the couch. She had again fallen asleep. Concerned, he did not attempt to wake her, but instead draped his robe over her and did not disturb her.

He hoped sincerely that she was not taking ill. Since that awful month in the fall before they married, she had not been sick too often, but it whenever she did come down with "a bug," as she referred to it, it took him back to that time, with all the fear and anxiety that came with it. He laid a hand on her shoulder, watching her sleep.

But after thirty minutes, she woke bright and energetic, ready to get back to work, and he shook off the unpleasant feelings. It was true she had slept badly the night before, having odd dreams she wouldn't talk about. He hoped she'd sleep better this evening.

She did sleep better that night, and even slept late the next morning. She seemed fine, so Elias put it out of his head.

That is, until three days later.

"Do you think we should expand the garden a bit?" Chise asked. "I'm thinking about planting some red maples. There's not enough red in the garden."

"That sounds lovely," Elias said, taking the width of the garden in a sweeping gaze. "Perhaps some wisteria, too. It would brighten the-"

" _Chise!_ " Ruth shouted. Elias whirled and found her looking green-faced and clutching her stomach. Elias rushed to Chise's side as she bent double, vomiting into the grass. He held her up before she could collapse to the ground.

"What is it? What is the matter?" He asked anxiously.

"I don't know," She gasped. "I just felt sick suddenly."

He pulled off his glove and felt her head. "You're warmer than normal, but not feverish. Come," He picked her up and carried her into the house. "Let's get you cleaned up."

Elias took Chise up to the bathroom and drew her a bath while she undressed. Ruth helped Silver clean up after Chise and make some broth for her to drink.

"It's so weird," Chise said, stepping into the bath. "I feel fine now. It was just a wave of nausea that hit me out of nowhere."

"Do you know what triggered it?" He asked, using a sponge to clean her face.

"I don't know," She said. "I smelled the gardenia and it turned my stomach. I don't get it. I love gardenia."

"Hmm. Should we pull it up?" Elias suggested.

"No! There's no reason to. This is probably just a fluke; maybe I ate something that didn't sit right."

"If you are certain. I would still feel better if you took it easy for the rest of the day."

"Anything for you," She said, smiling at him from the water.

A creeping anxiety began to take root in the back of his mind and it did not subside. In fact, it was made worse that evening when they all sat down to dinner and Chise, having eaten only three bites, covered her mouth and braced a hand against the table.

"She's nauseated again," Ruth said, taking her by the shoulders.

"No, I'm fine, it's passing," Chise said, waving them down.

"Chise, you're sick," Ruth insisted.

"I'm not!" She retorted. "It's gone now. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Elias asked in concern. He had half stood from the table.

"Yes," She said firmly. "I'm okay. Whatever it is, It passed."

Elias looked at Ruth, and he nodded, taking his seat again. Elias sat back down, but did not relax. He didn't like this at all. How could a person be sick and not be sick at the same time? This was a question for a professional.

* * *

Chise woke up the next morning to find Elias not in bed with her. She must have been sleeping pretty hard if he got up and dressed without disturbing her.

"Hey there," Chise heard, and turned with a start. Standing next to her was the fae doctor, Shannon. Chise groaned in exasperation.

"I wish Elias would stop calling you every time I get a sniffle," Chise griped.

Shannon smiled. "He's just being a good husband. He's worried. Wouldn't you be if he got sick?"

"Well, first of all, I'm not sick, and second, Elias doesn't get sick. As far as I know, anyhow. He never has been."

Shannon stood and walked up to Chise, checking her vitals. "Elias said you've been fatigued and nauseated and having odd dreams. Any other symptoms of note?"

"No," Chise said, a little irritably. "Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Your body's core temperature is higher than normal, but you don't have a fever. When was your last cycle?"

"It's been a while, but it comes and goes whenever it wants. I don't pay much attention to it."

"So you're pretty irregular, then," Shannon asked, motioning for her to lie down and pressing on her abdomen.

"Yeah, but it's always been like that, it's nothing new," Chise replied.

"Does this hurt?" Shannon asked as she pressed on the part of her torso that was just above her stomach.

"No."

"Mkay," Shannon mused. She used two fingers and pressed gently around Chise's breasts. "Does this feel tender or sore?"

Chise's brow furrowed. "Yeah, actually."

"Mmm." Shannon continued her examination. "Hold still for a second, okay? I'm going to get a deeper look."

Chise obediently lay very still as a light appeared in Shannon's hand. She started at Chise's head, holding it just above the skin, and slowly drew it down over her body until she reached her lower abdomen, just below her navel. The light seemed to brighten, and brighten, then dimmed and went out.

Shannon opened her eyes and sighed. "Well, you were right. You're not sick."

"I told you," Chise said, but Shannon held up a hand.

"But you are pregnant."

Chise froze. She felt as if the floor had given way and she was falling, unanchored. She began to breath quickly, near hyperventilating. She sat up slowly, carefully, feeling panic and terror flood her mind. She clutched the fabric of her nightgown over her heart, trying to slow her breathing and her racing heartbeat.

"Are you all right?" Shannon asked.

"He doesn't want this," Chise said in a strangled voice. "He hates kids. He won't want this. He'll be so upset."

"What do you want?" Shannon said.

Tears gathered in Chise's eyes as she looked up at the fae. "Not this. I can't be… I don't want…" She began to sob into her hands.

"Hush, Chise, hush," Shannon said. "Working yourself up like this will make you sick, and you'll be having enough of that as time goes on."

She sat down on the bed and rested an hand on Chise's shoulder. "I wish I could give you some advice, but when I was a mortal doctor, I was a a hematologist, specializing in diseases of the blood. I didn't deal with kids all that much. And because the fae are immortal and our territory is shrinking, we don't often reproduce. I haven't helped deliver a single fae child since I went to live at Anthill several years ago. As far as I know, I was one of the last fae children born in Tir na Nog. Or anywhere else in Europe, for that matter."

Chise let her hands fall and looked at Shannon, her face soaked in tears.

"What troubles you most about this?" Shannon asked her kindly.

"I… I don't…" Chise's face crumpled. "I don't want to be like them."

"Them?"

"My parents. I don't want to find out that I'm like them. That I'll abandon it. Or… or hurt it. I could never live with myself."

"Do you really think you'd ever hurt your own child?" Shannon asked.

"No…" Chise said, gripping the sheets in her white knuckles. "But I didn't think they ever would, either."

Shannon considered her sympathetically. "Well," She began. "The least I can do is leave you with a nausea remedy. I have a feeling morning sickness is going to hit you hard." She began to write a recipe on a spare bit of paper and handed it to her.

"Where is Elias and Ruth?"

"Downstairs," Shannon answered. "I asked them to let me examine you privately."

Chise nodded. "How do I tell him?"

"That I can't tell you," Shannon said, shrugging. "What I can say is no seafood, no caffeine, no soft cheese, no alcohol, no heavy lifting, and _no magic_. From this moment on, your apprenticeship is suspended. No exceptions. Your body is going to have enough work to do without adding the strain of magic to the mix. Oh, pick up some prenatal vitamins the next time you or Elias go into town and make sure any eggs and meat you eat has been well-cooked."

Chise nodded again, and stood up, putting on her dressing gown. "Thanks, Shannon."

"Sure," Shannon said. "I'll be back in a few days to check on you. Take care of yourself until then."

With a glimmer and a sound like a bell, she was gone.

Chise opened the door and walked down the stairwell, passed the sitting room and the kitchen, and walked straight out of the front door, going to sit in the garden.

Ruth and Elias had seen her go and were calling to her, but she ignored them, staring off into the treeline. Ruth, as a grim, pressed his nose to her hand, and she felt Elias kneel down next to her, his face close to hers.

"Chise?"

She didn't answer, only stared, her face tear-streaked.

"Chise, did Shannon find out what the problem was?"

Chise dropped her gaze and nodded. Despite her best efforts, tears kept spilling from her eyes.

"Chise, whatever it is, we will find a cure," Elias said. "We will not give up until you're better."

"There's no cure for this," Chise said. "You just have to wait. And then your entire life changes. Forever."

Elias took Chise's face in his hands. "Tell me, please. I cannot help if I do not understand."

Though she faced him, she could not look at him in the eye, and instead directed her gaze to her hands folded in her lap.

"It's not an illness or a disease, Elias," She said in a voice barely louder than a whisper. "I'm having a baby. You're going to be a father."

Very slowly, Elias removed his hands from her face and stood up. She didn't look at him when he backed away from her. She didn't look at him when he summoned his wand. She didn't even look up when light appeared and disappeared, taking him with it, leaving her and Ruth alone in the garden.

The tears continued to fall.

* * *

The aerie was as chilly as it always was, even in the summer. Elias wasn't sure exactly why he had come here, except that he had an uncontrollable instinct to get away, and this was about as far away as it was possible to be. It was a knee-jerk reaction that he couldn't properly explain, but he was here.

"Thorn?" Lindel called from behind him. Elias did not turn to greet him.

"Elias, what brings you all the way out here?" Lindel asked, coming around to face him. His face was bright with welcome. "You haven't visited yet this year. It's good to see you. Is Chise with you?"

"No," Elias said.

Lindel's sharp eyes narrowed at Elias's ever-expressionless face. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes... I… I do not know," Elias admitted. "I feel… lost. Unsure. I didn't know where else to go."

"What has happened? Chise isn't ill again, is she?"

"No, not ill. Pregnant."

Lindel's eyes widened with delight. "What wonderful news!" He said with a smile, gripping Elias on the arms and shaking him a little. "Congratulations, Thorn! You must pass on my joy to her. Or don't, I shall do it myself!"

Elias didn't move or respond.

"Is… this not cause for celebration?" Lindel asked, confused, lowering his arms.

"Lindel, I…" Elias shook his head. "You know what I am, what I used to be. A thing such as myself is not meant to be a father."

"I think nature has decided that for you," Lindel said.

"This is not something I am prepared for," Elias replied, ignoring him. "I don't know if I ever will be."

"No one ever is, but what is marriage for, if not this?" Lindel patted him on the arm. "Come, sit and talk with me."

Elias followed him to his fire, where he noticed he had interrupted Lindel's morning meal, and fell rather heavily to sit cross-legged on the ground. Lindel sat down with a bit more grace.

"Echoes," He began. "You have lived longer than me. Do you regret never marrying or having children?"

Lindel thought about it. "I have never felt the need to take a mate. I loved a time or two before I became a nomad, but they died young. They were normal humans, so I was fated to outlive them regardless. Knowing this, bonding myself to another seemed like more of a heartache than a comfort." His swept his hands wide, encompassing the valley within his reach. "As for children, I have hundreds."

"I mean biological children."

"They may not be of my flesh, but I still consider them my children, as I would any creature in my charge. Families are not just of blood, but of bond. You should know this, Thorn. Did I not also treat you as my own, those many years ago?"

Elias was silent for several long minutes, contemplating these words.

"It is true that in the past, you referred to me as your child many times. You still do so, though we so often disagree," Elias said quietly. "Were you being… sincere? You truly saw me as a son?"

Lindel looked at Elias in surprise. "Of course I did. I still do. Was that ever in question?"

"When we first began to wander together, you said that I was merely an acquaintance."

Lindel sighed. "I was a stubborn man when I was young," He admitted. "I valued my solitude back then even more than I do now. Being alone was an easy excuse for selfishness. When Rahab suggested you become my apprentice, I was annoyed at the thought of giving up the freedom of worrying only for myself, and spoke rashly. I regret that I ever gave you cause to think you were unimportant to me."

Elias was unsure what to say, so he said nothing.

"The truth is, Elias, you were the first creature, other than the reindeer, that I had ever taken into my care and it had changed me. Solitude for selfishness sake was no longer something that appealed to me. I still wished to live away from other humans but the desire for responsibility, to care for others, was lodged deeply in my soul. It was around that time that I first came across the aerie, where the old caretaker was waiting. He was close to passing beyond the veil and was desperate for a successor. I came at the most opportune moment, for the both of us." Lindel looked out at the field of hatchlings, playing and jumping and laughing in the sunshine. "I have been happy here, these many years. The children of this valley are mine as much as any child of flesh and blood would be, just as you are, and I love you and them as well as any father should."

Elias followed his gaze, unable to fathom this notion.

"How is Chise?" Lindel asked him, concerned. "I know of her difficult history with her own family. She must feel quite conflicted, more so even than you do."

"Yes," Elias agreed. "She was most distressed. She was weeping when she told me the news, and I came here straight after. I believe she may still be rather upset."

" _What?!_ " Lindel reached over, grabbed one of Elias's horns, and yanked on it. "You just _left_ her there? How could you do something so thoughtless, you featherwit! For heaven's sake, this will be ten times harder on her than it is on you! You go back there this instant! I can't believe I raised such a heartless child!"

Elias felt a push, and a sudden whirlwind, and before he could blink, he was standing where he had been before he left in the garden, facing the chair where Chise sat. Only now it was empty.

Going inside, he found both Silver and Ruth in the kitchen, looking sullen. They looked up as he walked in.

"Where is she?" He asked.

"In bed," Ruth answered. "She wanted to be alone, even from me."

Elias headed up the stairs and opened the door quietly. She was lying in the bed, facing the opposite wall, sobbing audibly. He walked inside, treading softly, and went to sit on the bed.

"I'm sorry," She said between sobs.

"You apologize as though I had no part to play," Elias replied.

"I should have paid attention," She cried. "I should have been more careful."

"No," Elias said gently, pulling back the bedclothes to lift her up and set her in his lap. "We are both behaving as though we have committed some disgraceful sin. Perhaps we should stop and discuss this before determining that the world is ending."

She sat in his arms, gripping his waistcoat and staining with her tears. "How can it not be?"

"Chise," He said in a choked voice. "I know what worries you, and I share that concern."

"You do?"

"Yes," He hung his head. "I know that I have been monstrous, that I have made many mistakes, that I'm not very good with children, and that the fae despise me for… merely existing. Our child, though they will share our blood, may also be like me, in appearance or temperament. But I promise you, I will protect it from those who would mistreat it and teach it to control itself. And I would never, ever hurt it."

She looked up at him in surprise, her distress momentarily forgotten. "You think _that's_ what bothers me?"

"It isn't?"

"No!" She pushed back so she was looking at him properly. "Elias, my father took half of my family and disappeared and I never heard from them again. My mother was so weak that she thought she'd be better off if I were dead, and then she was so ashamed that instead of owning up to what she did, she killed herself. I am a child of madness, weakness, cowardice, and a potential murderer. Do you really believe I think _you're_ the monster in this situation?"

Elias stared at her in shock. She wasn't at all concerned about his ability as a parent, but about hers.

"Elias, you have grown so much in the last several years. You're much better at understanding your emotions and the emotions of others. I have no doubt you'll make a great father, regardless of your past mistakes or your experience with children. And it doesn't matter to me what our child looks or acts like. It's our child and I'll love it either way. But…" She shook her head. "The idea that I could be anything like my parents terrifies me beyond rational thought."

"Do you really think you could be capable of harming your own offspring?" Elias asked her.

"I don't know," Chise said. "And it's the not knowing that scares me. I don't want to think that I could. But… it's not just my parents that has me worried about it. It's my aunts, my uncles, my grandparents, all the people who were supposed to be family who hurt me and threw me aside like I was nothing. If that's who I come from, how could it not be who I am?"

"I know who you are," Elias said, pulling her into a tight hug. "You are midwife to dragons, friend of every living creature, beloved of the fae, and most important, my kind, talented, pure-hearted wife. You are the person who would rather sacrifice herself than let any other being come to harm. You proved it with the dragon, you proved it with Stella, and you proved it with me, many times over. I know who you are, and you are not your family. You are Chise, strong and sure, and I have faith in you, even if you have none in yourself."

He wasn't sure, but he thought he might have heard a soft, breathy laugh. "Well," She said. "I guess if we can't believe in ourselves, we'll just have to believe in each other."

"That seems a suitable compromise," He agreed.

She sat in his embrace for many minutes before saying, in a stilted whisper: "I'm still scared."

"Yes," he replied, equally as quiet. "As am I."

* * *

Shannon had been right. Morning sickness had knocked her on her tail shortly after Elias returned from the aerie. They were grateful Shannon had left the recipe for a remedy before she left, but even then, Chise could only stomach crackers, broth, and tea. Elias insisted she keep to the house and not try to do much, and though she grumbled at him, it was a mark of how sick she felt that she complied.

Elias used the need to buy prenatal vitamins as a cover to go and talk to Simon. Part of his job as a priest was to counsel people, and Elias thought he might be the best person to talk to about his situation.

He found the village pharmacy well enough, despite never having been there before, and bought the vitamins, though he thought he could make them himself, now that he knew what the ingredients were. On the way back, he stopped at the church.

He didn't go inside; being in the building made him feel uncomfortable, as though a competing magic were in place attempting to expel him. Fortunately, he found Simon outside in the church's vegetable garden, watering the cabbages.

"Simon," He called out.

The priest looked up in bewilderment. "Ainsworth! This is a surprise. What's the occasion?" He looked down at the bottle Elias was carrying. "Prenatals? Who's expecting?"

Elias didn't answer.

Simon's eyes lit up. "Don't tell me! Chise's pregnant! Congratulations!" He took Elias's hand and shook it.

"That is what brings me here," Elias said solemnly. "You often counsel parents, do you not?"

"Well, yes, that comes with the job," Simon said.

"What do you do when one or both parent is unhappy about the situation?"

Simon seemed to understand then. "Ah, I see. Which parent in this case is the unhappy one?"

"That would be both of us," Elias admitted.

"Hmm…" Simon sat the watering can down and sat on the rock wall surrounding the garden. "Well, for the average couple, there are options. Adoption would be one, but I don't know how pertinent that would be in this case."

"Unlikely," Elias said. "There's every possibility that the child would look like me. Not exactly desirable for a prospective foster parent."

"I guess."

"What would you do?" Elias asked Simon.

"Me?" Simon replied.

"Yes," Elias said. "If you were in my position?"

"I think you may be asking the wrong person, Elias," Simon said, not without sympathy. "I'll never be in your position, so I wouldn't know what I'd do."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, I'm a priest: I've taken a vow of celibacy. I like kids well enough but I'll never have any of my own. You should be talking to someone who actually has children. They can give you better answers than me."

The only person he knew with a child was Angelica. Perhaps Simon was right.

"Very well," Elias said, standing. "I should get back."

"I'll come and visit Chise soon," Simon said, waving as Elias stepped past him. "In the meantime, try not to worry too much. There'll plenty of time for that later."

Back at home, Chise was sitting in the living room, reading, and greeted Elias with a smile. After their discussion, she was trying very hard to stay positive. He knew she still worried, but she was making an effort to keep calm and not fret. Shannon had said negative emotions were bad for the baby.

"How are you feeling?" He asked as he sat down next to her.

She kissed his cheek. "Better. I was able to eat a sandwich and keep it down."

"Good," He replied. "Did you sleep?"

She sighed. "Yeah, I took a nap after lunch, but I had a nightmare."

"What of?"

She looked down and away. "Just… bad dreams. I barely remember…"

"She dreamed she hurt the babies," Ruth said from the floor in front of the hearth.

Chise sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Babies?" Elias echoed.

"I saw two," Chise said. "Two infants. I…" Tears welled up in her eyes. "I dreamed I drowned them."

Elias pulled her close. "It was just a dream," He said. "It wasn't real. Shannon tells me odd dreams are normal during pregnancy."

"But these dreams?" She asked him.

"It's your fear manifesting itself," Elias said. "It wasn't real."

* * *

The dreams persisted. She was tormented each night of visions of murder and cruelty against their children, still insisting there were two, each phantom more horrifying than the last. She woke often crying and screaming, terrorized by her own tortured imagination. Elias did his best to comfort her, but there was little more he could do besides make her potions for dreamless sleep and hold her when they failed to work. Her will was very strong, and it appeared her demons were, as well.

After weeks of watching her suffer these night terrors, he finally made up his mind to see Angelica. Both Chise and Elias had been reticent to tell anyone about the baby, even being careful to keep it from the neighbors, so no one besides Simon, Shannon, Lindel, and those who dwelt in their home knew, not even Alice or Stella.

Elias told Chise he had some urgent business to see about, which was mostly true, and headed into London. He was not happy to leave her in her current state, but he felt this wouldn't wait any longer. He needed some kind of reassurance. Perhaps Angelica was the wrong person to go to for that, but he needed the advice of another mage who had had a child. He needed some guidance that only she could provide.

He opened the door to her shop and called out for her. She was in her workroom and looked around the doorframe at the sound of his voice.

"Ains! I wasn't expecting you," Angelica said when she saw him. "What brings you by? You could have sent a message telling me you were coming, you know. I can't just drop everything whenever you decide to show up."

"Angelica, there is an urgent matter I must discuss with you," Elias said in a serious tone, not bothering with preamble.

Angelica's head rocked back. "That sounds ominous. Come in, sit down, I'll make some tea."

"No tea, please, I'm anxious to get back home. I don't want to leave Chise for long."

"Is she all right?" Angelica asked in alarm. "Not sick, is she?"

Elias had to take a few breaths to calm himself. It was difficult to force the words out.

"Chise is pregnant."

Angelica did not react the way others had when they learned the news. She did not get excited and wish him congratulations. She didn't embrace him and tell him how wonderful it was. She didn't even smile.

"Oh," She said after a few seconds. "I see."

Elias believed that she did, in fact, understand his predicament. "I spoke to Simon about it, but he advised me to seek out someone who had children with my questions. You are the only one I know."

Angelica folded her arms and frowned. "You're right, this isn't the time for tea," She said. "This is a time for whiskey." She waved him in, and he followed her into the work room and took a seat at the table. She poured them both a glass and sat with him.

"So, what is it you wanted to know?" Angelica asked, sipping her whiskey.

"I know that you put off getting married for many years, and you had once told me you did not wish for children, yet Althea was born," He said to her, staring into his glass. "Why did that change?"

"It didn't," Angelica said. "Mages are a dying race, and I kind of figured that was for the best. This new world, the progress normal humans have made, is rendering magic obsolete. The age of science and technology doesn't need mages; we're relics of an ancient time. I was afraid that if I did produce children, they would be like me, and have to live in a world that was passing them by. Not only do we never change, but we have to watch friends, family, and lovers die while we cling to a life with no clear end. The last vestiges of a dead eon. It's a cross we bear in exchange for what we do and not a burden I wanted to place on the shoulders of another."

"But?" Elias asked.

"But," Angelica sighed. "David desperately wanted a child of his own. He begged and begged for years. I gave in eventually because I love him and I wanted him to be happy. I was rather hoping I couldn't get pregnant, and was very troubled when I learned that I was. David was ecstatic at the news, but I couldn't help thinking that I was creating a life that didn't need to exist."

Elias mulled this over. He had been a mistake, a lowly, monstrous aberration that shouldn't have existed. The fae never seemed to tire of reminding him of this fact. Whether he had been born of an ill-advised tryst between a human and a fae, or if someone had created him from flesh and magic like a rogue chimera, he did not know. It was something of an understatement to say that he was disinclined to discover what he truly was for certain.

Chise herself had been discarded by her own family as though she were garbage and he knew she had been told by several people, including her own mother, that it would have been better had she never been born. Would their own child be subjected to the same kind of mistreatment that the two of them had endured? The thought left a chill in his spine and a deeply uncomfortable ache in his chest.

"My pregnancy was miserable and I hated every second of it," Angelica continued. "The morning sickness, the bloating, the cravings, the weight gain. Feeling fat and gross and exhausted literally all the time. David spent every available minute tending to me, but it didn't make a difference. And the feeling of the baby moving inside my body felt alien and disturbing, like some kind of parasite. I hate to admit it, but I was genuinely terrified that I wouldn't be able to love my own child."

Elias was equally afraid to confess he had been worried about the same thing. He had no fondness for children and he was concerned this distaste would extend to his and Chise's offspring. The notion that he might hate his child was even more distressing than the notion of having one in the first place.

"The delivery was agony. I'd never felt so much pain in my entire life. Nineteen hours of labor, and every second was a knife twisting in my guts. But then," Angelica's eyes were far away, her voice softening with the recollection. "But then, I saw her face. Her big, bright eyes. Those little hands clutching my fingers. I looked at her and knew that she was mine. Nothing I could make with my own hands was equal to her. I knew she was a mage as soon as I saw her, but it made no difference. All the things I had worried about before her birth meant nothing. I would have died for that tiny little thing."

Elias watched her curiously, unsure of how to process this information.

"If I had the chance to go back and do it over, I would," Angelica said, draining her glass. "Althea is a blessing that I wouldn't trade for anything, but I don't think I'll ever bring another life into the world again, even if I live a thousand years. Being a mage in this era is a hardship. Althea doesn't understand it yet; she sees the world in terms of fairies and light and sorcery. But when she's older, it'll hit her hard, the way it did me. I regret that there's no way to shelter her from the truth. In some ways I'm glad, because it means I'll have at least one companion to share eternity with, but in other ways, I'm sad that her magical abilities will rob her of a normal life. That time and tide will take all the things she loves from her over and over again and there's nothing that can be done to change it."

Elias drank from his glass, still silent, contemplating.

Angelica cocked her head to the side. "How's the lass taking it?"

"She is worried," He said. "She is afraid that she will turn out like her own parents, that she will abandon or even attempt to harm or kill her own young. I do not believe Chise is capable of such a thing, but the thoughts still haunt her. She's been having nightmares about it." He drained his glass and Angelica refilled it. "She's also very ill. Shannon of the fae says it's just a severe form of pregnancy sickness and assures me it will pass, but… I worry."

"Of course you do. That's only natural," Angelica said. "Chise's a delicate thing, she always has been. But she's strong, too."

"Yes," Elias admitted. "At times, I am astonished at the potency of the strength she possesses. But this is something with which neither of us have any experience. I don't know what to do."

Angelica felt a great deal of empathy for Elias. She'd never seen him look so lost. She was reminded of herself back when she first agreed to give David his little girl: reluctant, fearful, and uncertain.

"Very few ever do," Angelica said. "As much as David wanted a baby, as much research and preparation and work he put into making this place safe for a kid, he had no idea what to do when she had colic for two months straight, or when she got hand, foot, and mouth disease before she was eighteen months old, or when her favorite toy went missing and she was inconsolable for a week." Angelica laughed softly. "No one is ever really prepared for children. It's just one of those learn-as-you-go kinds of things."

"I do not know if that makes me feel better or worse," Elias said dubiously.

Angelica snickered. "Sorry, but it's the truth," She said. "Listen, you want my honest opinion?"

"It matters little what my answer is, you're going to give it to me regardless."

Angelica gave him a little side-nod of agreement. "You know me too well." She downed the last of the whiskey in her glass and stoppered the bottle. "If you had come to me ten years ago and said you were going to be a father, I would have been awfully worried, for both you and that kid. You were selfish and rude and only thought of yourself. You wouldn't have had the first clue what it took to care for another living creature. I certainly wouldn't have trusted you with my kid."

She shook her head and smiled. "But since Chise has been with you, you've changed more than I could ever have thought possible. Lindel may have turned you into a mage centuries ago, but you found something in Chise you've been searching for all your life. You bought her with little thought of who she was or what she could become beyond a sleigh beggy, but in the years you two have been together, she has grown into an intelligent, beautiful woman and a powerful mage, and she has helped shape you into who you are now."

"And who am I now?" He asked curiously.

"A good man," Angelica said simply. She placed a reassuring hand over his. "You're going to do fine, Ains. So is Chise. I have faith in both of you. And I can't wait to meet the little one."

"Little ones. Chise is convinced of twins. And It will be a while," Elias told her. "Shannon believes the birth with be in midwinter, near Yule. She's only thirteen weeks so far."

"Hell of a Christmas present, then, if that's the case."

Elias stood. Despite himself, he did feel a bit better. "I must go. I want to get back. I do not like being away from her too long in her condition."

"I understand," Angelica said, standing to walk him out. "Give the lass my best. Tell her I'm thinking of her and have her call me when she's feeling better."

"I will," Elias promised. "Thank you, Angie."

Angelica shrugged. "It's what I do."

Elias walked out into the shop's facade, touched his cane to the ground, and vanished.


	7. A New Generation (Pt 2)

Author's note:

As grateful as I am for the reads and the comments, certain people need to stop badgering creators when they don't get what they want right away. I'm also not the only author from which this person has decided to demand content, as if they are owed it somehow. These works are mine and I'll post them when and where I like. If I post to another site before I post it here, I have my reasons for doing so. I love my readers, and they have been wonderful in terms of praise, help, and constructive criticism, but people who comment just to tell me that I'm "wasting their time" because I'm not doing exactly what they want are not going to get it by whining about it, especially by posting as a guest so that I can't even contact them.

STOP HARASSING CREATORS. LEARN SOME PATIENCE. RESPECT THE AUTHORS AND OUR RIGHT TO DO WHAT WE WANT WITH OUR OWN WORK. CREATORS DO NOT OWE ANYONE ANYTHING.

Thank you for your time.

* * *

When Elias returned home from London, he sat down with Chise and had a very long, solemn conversation with her about the pregnancy, and for the first time, they talked about a future that also involved their child. Or children, if Chise was correct in her belief that there were two.

He told her about going to speak with Lindel, Simon, and Angelica and what their advice had been. Like him, Chise found Angelica's tale the most consoling. Knowing that the artificer had felt similar apprehension about procreating helped Chise feel less isolated.

Calling Angelica and talking to her at length also did much to improve Chise's disposition, not just about Chise's ability to parent but also about the pregnancy itself. It didn't cure her of her worries, but having someone to talk to who knew exactly what she was going through was a great comfort to her.

Finally managing to convince Elias to install a landline in the house had been a pretty recent accomplishment. He fought this "modern indulgence" for quite a long time, but when he finally understood that it meant she didn't have to walk to town to use the public phone every other day, he was more open to the idea, especially since walking long distances was going to become rather difficult for her as time went on. The noise the device made was annoying, but seeing her smile when she answered it was enough to keep him from being too bothered by the sound.

The change in her mood greatly eased Elias's mind. Watching Chise spiral into a deep, black pit of terror and depression was difficult for him to bear, especially given there was little he could on his own to improve it. As much as he wanted to help her, he had eventually come to understand that sometimes people could only find solace in others who'd had comparable experiences. This was just not his ken, so it was better left to those suited to the task.

He tried to quash his own fears for her sake, but she knew him too well to let him get away with keeping those thoughts to himself. At night, before they slept, she would talk to him; just talk, not expecting him to respond if he wasn't in the mood to do so, and it helped him. Hearing the sudden shift in her voice from cold despair to tentative hope had done much to alleviate his woes. She encouraged him to be honest with her about what he felt, but didn't push him to talk if he didn't want to. More often than not, though, he would. They would lay bear their worries to each other and try to find the bright side. They were both still afraid, but they were facing that fear together.

And it helped.

* * *

Summer was in full swing, and Elias was twice as busy as normal now that Chise was limited as to what she could do. He didn't grumble about it much; after all, he had done everything himself before she had come along. But they had become a well-coordinated, efficient team over the years and he had come to treasure her reserved, supportive assistance in all things, whether practical or magical. He rather missed working in tandem with her.

Though she was no longer allowed to do any of her normal seasonal chores beyond a little light weeding and watering, she would often sit in the garden with him as he worked and help whenever she could, not content with staying in bed all day like an invalid. Besides, having Chise within Elias's sight and hearing was good for his heart and mind.

Ruth spent his time keeping a close, watchful eye on her, reporting any physical ills that Chise might keep to herself to Elias. As long as she was at rest, though, they were happy enough.

Late one night, he walked into their bedroom to prepare for sleep and found her naked in front of a mirror, standing to the side, looking down at her belly.

"What are you doing?" He asked curiously.

"Look at my stomach," She said, her hands gently probing her lower abdomen. "It's bigger. And it's hard, too. Feel."

Elias came close and laid his hand on her stomach. It was indeed hardened, as though she had swallowed a large stone, and there was a swelling between her hips; not big, but definitely noticeable.

And perhaps he imagined it, but he thought he felt a strange swirl of energy embedded there underneath the flesh and muscle, lodged deep in her body. No, _ _two__ swirls. Perhaps Chise's instinct was more credible than he first thought.

"Hmm," He said. "Why is that?"

"Angelica says the uterus thickens and becomes more solid to protect the fetuses," She said, reaching for a book on her nightstand. "It says so in this, too. Alice sent it to me. I told her about the babies, by the way, but I swore her to secrecy. I haven't told Stella yet, but she's busy at university and I didn't want to bother her during finals."

Elias bent to peer at the book. "What is it?"

She flipped through the rather large paperback volume. "It's a book about pregnancy and birth. It's actually pretty informative. So many things make sense now."

"May I read it, then?" He asked. "There is much I still need to learn. I have a distinct dearth of knowledge about this particular subject and I feel compelled to rectify that."

"Sure," she said, handing it to him. "I've read up to the third trimester, so I won't need it for a little while. I hope it helps."

In some ways it did, and in others it didn't. During gestation, he learned, the woman's body produces excess blood to carry extra oxygen to the baby, which in turn causes the mother's heart rate to accelerate for the duration of the pregnancy, which in turn causes her core temperature to rise. That explained that part, at least.

But other aspects of pregnancy and childbirth were, to put it mildly, horrifying. Things like nosebleeds, strange cravings, extreme mood swings, increased sex drive, swelling of the extremities, sudden hair growth or hair loss, violent fits of vomiting that lasted for months, soreness almost everywhere, food aversions, heighten sensitivity of smell, touch, and taste… the list of physical oddities was extensive. Bones would often be pushed out of the way and change position to compensate for the growing child, sometimes even fracturing or breaking in the process. And all of this was considered _normal_.

And those were just minor possible symptoms. The more severe ones were downright ghastly. There was no end of ways that it could go wrong, no end to the possible damage to the mother, no end to the ways the child could be born ill or malformed, and that was just for regular, non-magical children. There was no telling what kind of ailments could befall the child of two mages, especially if both parents were cursed.

And the descriptions of the birthing process itself, including the many, many things that could go awry, was nothing short of nauseating. Several times, he had to shut the book and put it aside for a while, appalled at what he learned. He hated to admit it, but sometimes knowledge for knowledge's sake wasn't always a good thing.

* * *

Once the first physical changes had begun, time seemed to speed up. Chise's body changed rapidly, her stomach growing larger every day to carry the new life safely. She seemed especially breakable these days, and Elias couldn't help being even more protective than he had been before.

For years before he had bought Chise, nothing had changed. Things went on as they always had, and it was as comfortable as it was dull. Then, once he met her, things changed, but it was a slow change. Even though things happened that never had before, it came at a pace he could understand and absorb.

Now, everything was new and happening too fast for him to process, and he was trying his best to keep up. He did not adapt well to change.

One afternoon in late July, while Chise was having her afternoon nap, Elias awoke her with a touch to her cheek.

"I'm sorry to wake you, Little Bird," He said softly. "But there is a guest downstairs who has come a long way to see you. Are you feeling up to greeting them?"

She smiled. "Sure."

Downstairs, she saw a tallish, pale man standing in their sitting room in modern clothes, looking around the room curiously. His blonde hair was separated into two bunches and hung over his shoulders. The the pupils of his bright blue eyes were slits, like that of a wild predator.

"Lindel!" Chise exclaimed in surprise.

When he saw her enter the room, a wide smile split his face. "It's good to see you, my daughter," He said, his arms open toward her.

She rushed forward to give him a hug. "What are you doing here? The dragons-"

"Can survive me being gone for an hour or two. Besides, Merituuli is to inform me right away if anything should happen while I'm here. I haven't heard from you in a while and I wanted to check on you." He held her at arms length and looked at her belly. "You're coming along rather quickly, aren't you? I sense very strong life essences brewing in there. Your offspring will be incredibly powerful mages. I can't wait to meet my grandchildren; you must bring them to the aerie once they've been born."

"More than one?" Chise asked.

"Oh, yes," Lindel replied. "Two separate, distinct energies, hale and healthy, growing well."

"Ha," Chise said quietly. "I knew it."

"Now," He took her hand and hooked it around his arm. "Why don't you give me a tour and tell me all about your preparations for the little ones? I've never actually been to Thorn's home, you know. The ungrateful brat has never so much as extended an invitation."

Elias sniffed slightly and sat in his chair, picking up a book he must have been reading before Lindel arrived.

"Of course," She said, turning. Silver was looking in shyly from the kitchen, where Ruth was having a snack. "This is Silver Lady. She's a neighbor who runs the house and looks after us. She's been a big help to me."

Lindel bowed. "A pleasure."

Maybe it was Chise's imagination, but she could have sworn Silver blushed.

"Good to see you again, Ruth," Lindel said pleasantly. "Keeping a sharp eye on our favorite girl, are you?"

"Of course," Ruth said. "She's been getting plenty of rest, but she's not eating as much as I'd prefer."

Chise sighed heavily. "Elias's fussing is bad enough, but having a fae nanny breathing down my neck all day is really irritating."

Lindel laughed softly. "I would imagine so."

Chise showed him her old room upstairs with Ruth trailing behind, where Silver had surprised her one day by converting it into a nursery. Silver, at least, seemed very excited about the new additions to the family and was going to extraordinary lengths to make sure the house was ready for their arrival.

The brand-new cupboards were stacked with blankets and swaddling and dressing gowns and cloth diapers, all handmade by Silver. There were double changing tables and bassinets, set side by side, and even a rocking chair next to the window. Chise had no idea where all the new furniture had even come from. Silver had used neutral colors to decorate the room: a mix of light and dark browns and soft purples and blues. The walls had been painted with a mural of wildflowers and trees, and the floor was plush grass-green carpet, as though the room was outside in a meadow. It was beautiful. Chise had cried and hugged Silver for quite a while when Silver presented it to her.

Ah, mood swings.

Elias had not been prepared for these emotional outbursts and, quite frankly, neither had Chise. She'd go from really happy to really sad to really annoyed all in the span of a few minutes. It was rather dizzying for the both of them. Ruth tried to warn Elias when they were coming, but he couldn't always tell, so they were often blindsided by a sudden explosion of emotion that even Chise didn't always understand. He supposed there was some comfort to be found in the fact that she was just as confused as he was.

Chise showed Lindel Elias's study, and her workroom beyond where she practiced her spellcraft, and then decided to take a break in the garden. Lindel sat with Chise, talking animatedly about the baby dragons and happily eating Silver's sandwiches and cakes. It was probably a nice change from stew. He even coaxed a song from Chise, one he had taught her in Icelandic about a hungry raven that slept beneath rock rifts. She had missed singing with him.

The sound of their voices raised in song brought Elias out to join them. He hadn't heard her sing in some time and was pleased to hear it. She only sang when she was in a good mood. The resonance of their voices made the trees stand straighter, the flowers bloom brighter, and the sunlight shine gently upon them without being overpowering. When Lindel and Chise worked together, everything they touched was magic. Elias couldn't help but be a little jealous of that.

The visit was a splendid one that did much to brighten Chise's spirit. Before long, Lindel felt the aerie calling his heart home and left Chise with a hug and well-wishes. He even shook Elias's hand.

Lindel snapped and sparked and was gone in a flurry of snow and cinders. Chise was sorry to see him go. She really felt as though Lindel was a surrogate father. When he called her _his daughter_ , there had been weight to it. He genuinely meant it.

Chise made to go inside, but Elias took her by the hand to stop her, looking off into the woods.

"I believe we may have further visitors," He said, taking his veil and flinging it over his face. He pointed to the treeline.

There, almost invisible under the dappled sunlight filtering through the trees, stood a fae woman of indescribable beauty. Her black hair trailed behind her and brushed the ground as she walked, and her skin was as smooth as the petals of a lily. Her eyes, the colors of which shifted as though iridescent, were locked on Chise from where she stood motionless in the shadow. How long she had been there, no one could say, but her attention was on Chise and nothing else.

"Lady Titania," Chise breathed.

As though summoned, Titania stepped out of the shelter of trees and began to walk toward them. Spriggan stepped out of her shadow, the gold rings adorning his staff jingling as he walked. He looked as surly as ever.

"My dear, sweet robin," Titania said, holding her arms out to Chise and she stepped forward. "Oh! Isn't it so wonderful!"

"I assume the little folk have informed you of Chise's condition," Elias said.

"Oh,yes, my child. I can't tell you how pleased I am! Oberon is beside himself." She glanced back to the forest's edge. Chise and Elias followed her gaze to see Oberon running to and fro, giggling like a child and throwing flowers into the air. Chise laughed softly and shook her head.

Titania returned her attention to Chise and touched her hand to Chise's belly. "Look how far along you are! I must say, though, I am terribly put out that you hid it from us for so long."

"I'm sorry," Chise said. "I… it's been… difficult."

Titania took her face in her hands. "Poor child," She said. "Do not despair. This is a blessing. What a wondrous gift it is to be mortal. The fae do not breed well with each other and as such, our children are rare. That's why there are so many old tales among mortals about halflings, though such things are far less likely in this millenia." Her gaze brushed across Elias's tall form briefly. "I suppose it's how your race proliferates so effectively. You're like rabbits, in that way." She giggled.

"Oh, what a wonderful turn of fate!" Oberon crooned gleefully, skipping around the group of them. "I can't wait to see the new little mages. Is there any chance at all they'll be blonde? Oh, nevermind, they'll be adorable either way!"

"Titania," Elias started, ignoring Oberon as he pranced around them, laying a flower crown on Chise's head. "You have the gift of foresight. Can you…" He paused, clutching the fabric of his shirt over his chest, as though in pain. "Is there any way to tell… that is to say…" He stumbled to a stop.

"Elias," Titania said kindly. "Ask your question plainly, and I shall answer as best as I can."

Elias sighed. "The children… our children… will they be… like me? Half-creatures, hated and shunned for the sin of merely being alive in a world where they do not belong?"

Chise's heart bled for him. It must have quite a blow to his pride to ask that question. She knew he'd never admit it to anyone, not even her, but the constant reminder that he was neither one or the other was something that caused him perpetual grief. The idea that he was terrified his own children would share this fate made Chise's heart ache. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it consolingly.

"Oh, Thorn," Titania said sadly. "I see branches; roads that split and diverge like serpents in the sea of potentiality. I see many possibilities, though some are more likely than others. I cannot give you a solid answer because the paths are still many and multiplying. I cannot tell you for certain what will be." She laid a hand on his chest and smiled. "But would you like to know what I feel?"

He nodded, apprehensive.

"I feel love and joy," She said. "I hear laughter echoing within the walls of this dwelling. Your children will have fragments of their father residing in them, as all children do, but they will have the protection and favor of all who love them. And there will be many who love them. They are blessed by the Queen of the Fae herself, and my blessing is no paltry trinket."

"Titania, I…" Elias said, unable to continue.

Oberon slid over to his wife and winked at her, a wide smile on his face. He then turned to Elias.

"Do not fret, thorn child," He said. "However tainted your lineage may be, you are still one of us, and your bride is beloved by our kind. Your children, then, will be doubly revered by all fae. You have no cause to worry."

"Thank you. That is… very comforting," He replied, though his tone said to Chise that he was still rather troubled.

Chise endured another few minutes of Titania and Oberon's doting before they decided to depart. She felt rather relieved when they left. They could be a lot to handle all at once.

* * *

That night, lying in bed with Elias, the question he had asked the Faerie Queen revolved over and over in her mind.

"Elias?" She asked softly, trying not to wake Ruth. "Are you still awake?"

She couldn't see his pupils, but he did answer. "Yes."

She lay her hand on the back of his neck and stroked it. "Are you really worried about how the children will turn out?"

Elias sighed. "It does not matter to me what they will look like," He said somberly. "But it will matter to humans. Experience has taught me well that mankind does not adapt quickly to things that are strange or unusual." He turned his head to look at her. "The fae will not care about their appearance, either, but they will see them as _my_ children, spawn of the halfling failure. That alone may be enough to draw the ire of the fae against them, despite what Titania and Oberon said. Those two have never failed in their kindness to me, but it is borne out of pity, not respect, and the rest of the fae are not so magnanimous. Some are indifferent to me, but most, like the Spriggan, are openly hostile. I do not wish for my children to suffer because of who their father is."

"Oh, Elias," Chise said, holding him close. "I wish I could- _Oh!_ " Chise sat up abruptly, pulling the covers down and placing both hands on her belly.

"What?" He asked in alarm, turning to sit up. "What is it? Are you alright?"

"I felt them."

"You did?" He asked.

"Yes," She said, moving her hands around gingerly. "I felt a thumping on the inside. I felt some flutters before, but I was never sure what they were. That was definitely a kick."

"Are you sure?" He asked, looking at her abdomen.

In response, she took his hand and laid it down on her stomach, instructing him to wait. He did so, and it took nearly five minutes, but there was a distinct nudge against his hand.

Chise looked up and smiled at him, but his heart was in his throat. He couldn't decide if he was excited or panicked. Talking about the baby, seeing her belly expand, making preparations: for some reason, none of that made it feel real. But this did. Feeling the tiny movements of the child on his own skin from the inside of her body was what made it reality to him.

"We should call on Shannon tomorrow," Chise said. "I'm twenty weeks. It's about time for a check-up."

"Y-yes," He said vaguely. "Of course."

She took his face in her hands. "Are you all right?"

"I do not know," He answered honestly. "I am… frightened."

"I know," She said. She laid her forehead on his.

They stayed that way for many minutes, their foreheads touching, his hand on her belly, feeling the little jumps and thumps of his children moving about inside. Frightened was not an adequate word for what he felt. He didn't know if there was a word strong enough.

* * *

Time seemed to move very fast for a while, and then suddenly slowed to a snail's pace. Before they knew it, it was winter. Chise had grown very large, and Shannon expected the babies to come a few days after the new year.

Chise kept to the house exclusively now, since moving was more difficult, not to mention that Elias was highly paranoid about her catching an illness in her condition. She spent much of the time nesting, which is an instinctual habit among mothers-to-be to make sure everything was in its proper place and perfect. Silver had taken care of most of that for her, but it didn't stop Chise from folding and refolding all of the babies' linens and making sure things were just so.

As the time for the birth came closer, the atmosphere of the house grew more and more anxious. Chise was rather sick of being pregnant and was ready to be able to stand without assistance and not eat what felt like half her body weight every day. Ruth was restless and impatient. He could feel the time getting closer just as acutely as Chise did.

If Chise was anxious and Ruth was restless, Elias was downright terrified. He spent a lot of time alone in his study, unable to control this emotion. He didn't want to worry her more than she already was, but he couldn't push away the awful feeling of dread.

He had slowly grown accustomed to the idea of the children, but not the possibility that they would take after him. The idea that they could be subjected to cruelty and discrimination for simply being _his_ children made his blood run cold. How could he protect them against that kind of hatred? How could he shield them from the animosity of both humans and fae? He could weather it just fine; he was used to it, and some of it was deserved. He had once been a monster, after all. But they would be innocent and guileless. They didn't deserve to be treated as he had been.

As much as he tried to hide his worry from Chise, he knew she felt it. He could see it on her face when she looked at him sometimes. It wasn't pity that she showed him, but empathy. If anyone would understand, it would be her, but this was just one thing he couldn't talk to her about. She always tried to soothe him and tell him things would be fine, but she had no way of knowing that for certain. Blind optimism just didn't work for him.

* * *

Very late on the night before Christmas eve, a sharp yelp of pain woke Elias from sleep. It had been Ruth: he had bounced out of his bed and shot to Chise's side, immediately switching to his human form. Chise was sitting curled around her stomach, gasping.

"Chise?" Elias asked.

"I think my water broke," Chise gasped. "I've been having contractions, but they weren't bad until now. We need Shannon."

"Shannon! Silver!" Elias called.

A flash shot through the room. Elias turned on the lamp and found Shannon standing next to Chise, trying to pull her to her feet. The silky came through the door in an instant, a tub of hot water and many towels in her hands. It was almost as if she were waiting for the call.

Shannon had Chise sit on a wooden chair with a curved back, urging her to recline with her pelvis tilted out, putting a pillow behind her to support her back. Silver helped Chise out of her underwear and flipped the hem of her nightgown up over her stomach, exposing her entire lower half. Chise didn't have the wherewithal to be embarrassed about her tender bits out for the entire room to see. The pain was pushing everything else out of her brain.

"Is it supposed to hurt this much?" Ruth gasped, his arms wrapped around his stomach.

"There are two living creatures the size of watermelons attempting to tear their way out of her body, Ruth. Yeah, it's gonna hurt," Shannon said dryly.

"Sorry, Ruth," Chise said, breathing heavily. "I'm trying to block it."

"Don't worry about it," Ruth said. "I don't really care about me right now."

"What can I do?" Elias asked anxiously.

"You and Ruth, get on either side. Both of you hold her hand with one of yours and then let her use your other hand to brace her feet on. She's going to need the leverage when she starts pushing."

Elias and Ruth, took their positions. Chise had already begun to sweat profusely and was breathing shallowly. Silver stood at her head, stroking her hair gently and ready with a cloth to wipe her brow.

"Deep breaths, Chise," Shannon said, kneeling on the ground and pushing a gloved hand into Chise's body to gauge her dilation. "Nine centimeters," Shannon said, removing her hand. "Not quiet ready yet, but it's going to be soon."

Chise could only nod, attempting with little success to take deep breaths as she was instructed. Her head rolled to look at Elias with fear in her eyes.

"It's too early," She said in a terrified whisper. "I'm not due for another three weeks."

"It's all right," Elias whispered, knowing he might be lying. "It will be all right."

Chise had no choice but to wait until her body opened up enough to start pushing, and it took a few long, miserable hours of pain and sweating. By the time Shannon got into position, it was only an hour before dawn.

"Okay," Shannon said. "Elias, Ruth, take one foot each and push it toward her chest, but not forcefully. Chise, take several deep breaths. When I say, take a very deep breath, hold it, and start pushing. When I count to ten, you can let go and breath again. Understand?"

Chise nodded, already very tired from the waves of pain she had been suffering over the past few hours. She steeled herself and began to take slow, deep breaths.

"Ready? Okay, deep, deep breath and _push_!"

Chise pulled in as much air as her lungs could take and held it, bracing her legs against Ruth and Elias's grip, and pushed with all her might, her face pulled back in a grimace of pain and exertion.

"One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten, and _breathe_ ," Shannon instructed. Chise blew out her breath explosively and gulped in air.

"Okay, again. Deep breath, and _push_!"

It went on like this for quite a time. They only paused the pushing for Chise to drink water and for Silver to wipe the sweat from her face and neck. Elias talked in Chise's ear during these brief moments of rest, telling her that she was strong and that he had faith in her. She seemed so tired, but she smiled at him and dotted a kiss on his nose in reply.

Finally, as the first rays of sunlight shone through the window, Shannon pulled a small, reddish-purple infant from Chise's body. It shrieked as it took it's first breaths of life, it's color changing as it took in oxygen. Shannon placed the sticky ball of outrage on Chise's chest for a moment, allowing the new mother to inspect the little creature for herself while Shannon detached the umbilical cord.

"It's a baby girl," Shannon said, smiling.

Chise let go of Ruth and Elias and wrapped her fingers around the tiny thing as it screamed it's fury at them all. Chise was crying, too, but not in anger. Her face, red and sweaty though it was, lit with joy as she held her newborn daughter.

Suddenly, she seized up with a sudden contraction and hissed with pain. The baby was whisked out of her arms by Silver, who took it to a nearby dressing table to clean it.

"We're halfway there," Shannon said. "Let's get ready. On the next contraction, we start the pushing again."

Chise nodded, letting Ruth and Elias take hold of her feet and push them back.

Once the first baby was out, the second wasn't far behind. It wailed more loudly than it's twin, thrashing about angrily on Chise's chest, though Chise clearly didn't seem to mind.

"It's another little girl," Shannon said with a grin.

Tears poured from Chise's eyes as she held her daughter, gasping from the effort of pushing. The touch of her mother's hands had calmed the baby and she was no longer writhing spastically, but wiggling and making little grunting sounds, lying on her belly in Chise's grasp.

After a moment, this child, too, was taken away for cleaning. Then there was more work to be done. The afterbirth had to be removed from Chise's body, which caused a small fountain of blood to escape. Elias and Ruth panicked, but Shannon said this could happen sometimes and it wasn't serious as long as it was contained quickly. She gave Chise a tea that would help stop the bleeding and once she had finished it, Silver lifted Chise as if she weighed nothing and took her to the bathroom for a proper cleaning. Shannon followed, leaving Ruth and Elias alone with the newborns, lying side by side and safely bundled up in the crib near Chise's side of the bed.

While she was gone, Ruth went to inspect the babies up close. "Elias," He called to the mage, who was still sitting in a daze. "Come and see."

Elias stood with his heart pounding in his chest and walked to stand by Ruth, looking down at his brand new daughters with a lump in his throat. Now that they were cleaned, he could see them better. They were still wiggly and wrinkly, but there were distinct differences between the twins. One had a full head of white-blonde hair and a peachy-pink complexion, while the other had fine red fuzz on her head and was as pale as bleached bone.

"I remember the day that Isabelle was born," Ruth said solemnly, lost in his memory. "I had only been with the family for a few months and I didn't quite understand what was happening at the time. I didn't know what a baby was. She was so tiny and weird-looking, but I loved her right away. We were together all the time after that. I existed for her; I'd have done anything for her."

He stared down at the two sleeping infants, his eyes dark with recollection. "I took it for granted, thinking she'd always be there. I didn't see the dangers until it was too late. I should have done more to protect her. If I had been a better brother, she might have lived a long, happy life. I didn't do enough, and she died." He reached out but stopped just short of touching the one with red hair. "For them, I'll do better. I'll _be_ better. I promise."

Elias did not respond. He stared down at his sleeping girls rather blankly.

 _Yes,_ He thought to himself. _I, too, must be better._

Silver and Shannon returned with Chise, clean, wearing a fresh nightgown, and remarkably able to walk unassisted. Elias helped ease her back into the freshly changed bed, then Shannon handed Chise the white-haired baby girl. Shannon insisted that Chise try to breastfeed the baby, as it would help promote clotting. Silver went to work cleaning the gory aftermath off of the floor. Ruth, as a grim, sniffed each child keenly with his tail wagging.

It took a few tries and some urging to get the baby to latch to her breast; apparently babies weren't born knowing how to do this and had to be taught, but once she found her way, she seemed to be content and fell asleep while feeding, her tiny arm resting on Chise's skin. Elias watched curiously.

"You probably won't be able to produce enough milk to fill both babies at the same time, so you might want to supplement with formula. You may even decide to go formula exclusively, which is fine. As long as they get the enzymes from your breastmilk at the start, it'll be a big boost to their immune systems."

Chise nodded without looking up, absorbed in the tiny little girl at her breast with it's little fist around Chise's finger. She seemed to finish quickly, and Chise lifted the baby for Elias to hold.

"Chise…" He said nervously. "I don't… I can't… I don't think…"

"It's okay, Elias," Chise said with a smile. "You're going to have to hold them at some point. Might as well be now."

"Just remember to support the head," Shannon said. "The neck muscles are underdeveloped."

"Here," She sat up and, holding the baby in one arm, used her hand to make a cradle of his. "Like this."

Exercising more care than he ever had in his entire existence, he took the tiny bundle into his arms, cradling it gently. He could feel the warmth of it's little body through the blankets, as though he were holding a glowing coal. He lifted her up so he could inspect her more closely. As he did so, she opened her eyes for the first time and looked up at him. Her eyes were the color of evergreens, like her mother. But unlike her, the pupils were not round but slits, like that of a wild creature. The eyes of a fae. The eyes of a mage.

"Chise, look," Elias said, bending to show her. Chise, who had taken the red-haired babe and was feeding her from the other breast, peered at the child Elias held and smiled. Her smile faded and her eyes narrowed curiously.

"What is it?" Elias asked.

"Look at her head, a little bit above the hairline. There's a bump. No, there's two, one on either side. Do you see them?"

Elias brought the baby close to his face, examining her closely. There was, indeed, some sort of bump there. Carefully readjusting his grip, he felt the bumps with his finger. They felt like… bone? No, not bone…

"Horns," Elias said softly. "She has horns."

Chise laughed softly, her eyes warm with affection. "You certainly can't deny she's yours, can you?"

He looked down at her, a new warmth spreading though his chest. "No…" He said. "I cannot."

"Have you decided on names?" Shannon asked, sitting on the other side, monitoring the mother and her little ones closely.

Elias was taken aback. It wasn't something he had even thought about. He'd been so preoccupied with his doubts and fears that he hadn't room to think of anything else.

"It is Christmas Eve," Chise said, looking out of the snow covered windows. She looked at the little redhead, sleeping peacefully in her arms. "Her hair reminds me of holly berries, so why don't we call her Holly?" She smiled and gazed at the white-haired child Elias clutched to him. "And with her green eyes, she should be named Ivy."

Elias sat down on the edge of the bed next to her, bending to nuzzle her head.

"Yes," He said fondly. "It's perfect."

After both parents had a turn holding both of their infant girls, they gave Silver and Ruth a chance. Ruth was anxious and attentive, fearful of being clumsy or accidentally jostling his new nieces and upsetting them, but Silver seemed overjoyed to hold the tiny babes, smiling brightly and giggling at their noises. A better nanny than Silver Lady could not be found anywhere, either in the mortal realm or the kingdom of the fae. Chise had a feeling she was going to be relying heavily on her for the next few months.

While holding Holly, Silver made a small noise of surprise.

"Silver?" Chise said. "What is it?"

Silver brought the baby to the bed and knelt down between Elias and Chise, where the parents could see the newborn's eyes. The irises were solid black and didn't reflect light, instead seeming to consume it. The pupils, however, were red. Not the bright holly red of her hair, but a dark crimson red, like blood on snow, and they too were mere slits.

" _Oh,_ " Chise breathed. "Look at that. Aren't they beautiful?"

Elias, seeing the trace his own eyes looking back at him from his daughter's face, was at a loss for words.

His children were mostly human, it seemed, but they retained a piece of him, a fragment of his fae blood, just as Titania said. Before, this thought made him worry about their future, but seeing them now, he felt… what was this? It was a good feeling, but it carried weight with it. Pride? Was that it? Did he feel proud? Perhaps so.

After a while, Shannon insists that everyone leave the room to the new parents and their children, and Elias settled himself in a chair beside the bed, with Chise on his left side and the crib on the right. All three of his girls were sleeping peacefully. Ivy seemed content in being wrapped up in her swaddling, but Holly had kicked her way out of the blankets so that she could move freely.

He watched them sleep with mixed emotions, laying his hands on the stomachs of the babes, comforted by their warmth. As if waiting for this, they both reached out and gripped his fingers in their fists and held on with a surprisingly strong grip.

The world could have been falling down around them, but as long as they were safe and happy, it wouldn't have bothered him. He found he didn't care all that much at the moment about the concerns that had plagued him before the birth, though he knew they would come back eventually. He felt warm and calm, with none of the anxiety that had been gnawing at his mind for months. Was this feeling happiness? Peace?

He could identify at least one emotion well enough: love. It was different than what he felt for Chise, but no less consuming. Chains of gold and silver had wrapped themselves around his heart. They sprung from the touch of his tiny daughters' small hands on his own, an unbreakable link that bound him to his newly-born flesh and blood. Instinct drove this behavior, and it was obvious what it meant. They had laid claim to him.

 _They do not belong to me,_ he realized. _I belong to them. How fascinating._

He had lived for centuries never having tethered himself to any other being. Back then, loneliness and being alone were mutually exclusive concepts. He'd had friendships and acquaintances but felt no obligation to any of them beyond an occasional favor or trade. At the time, he had thought himself content.

When he had acquired Chise on a whim out of mere curiosity, he had not anticipated how his life would change. The connection that developed between them, as slow as it was to manifest openly, was unlike anything he'd felt before. It brought with it many good feelings, as well as many unpleasant ones. Chise's love was easy enough to earn, but he soon discovered that while love could be unconditional, trust was not. He hadn't known there was a difference between those emotions until he had betrayed them.

For a while after, their bond was fragile and could snap with any slight pressure he applied to it. It had taken much time and effort on his part to repair the damage he had done, and he had sworn never to do anything that could sever that link again.

But the bond he felt to these two new lives was instantaneous and indestructible, something over which he had no control. He was, for lack of a better term, spellbound.

"I don't understand."

Elias jumped slightly at Chise's soft whisper. He looked over to see that she was awake and staring are her children.

"What is it you do not understand, Little Bird?" Elias replied quietly.

"I thought," She said. "I thought when they were born, it would make more sense, but it doesn't. I thought it would help me understand why they did it."

"Your parents," He said. It wasn't a question.

"I thought that once I was a parent myself, I could see it from their perspective, and I'd understand. But I don't. I would never, ever leave them. I could never hurt them. Never." She looked at Elias and took his hand. "What they did still makes no sense to me. I guess you were right, Elias. I am different."

"Yes," He said, holding her hand to his cheek. "Do not be sad, Chise. That is a wonderful thing."

She smiled, and her gaze returned to the infants. "You're right. It is."

* * *

During that first two months, which Chise and Elias used to get accustomed to the new routine of parenthood, the twins developed personalities that were as different as their appearance. Holly was an independent little thing and didn't like to be swaddled or held for too long, while Ivy loved to be cuddled and preferred to be held by Elias over anyone else. He was more than happy to hold her at all times and soon became deft at doing things one-handed.

After this necessary adjustment time, they decided to have a small gathering of friends over to properly introduce their children. They had invited Stella, the Barley family, Alice, a few friends from the college including the brooding Adolf and enthusiastic Tori, and even Renfred. Over the years, Elias and Renfred had forged a tense acquaintanceship. Chise encouraged them to be better friends, but in the end, she figured anything was better than open hostility.

They had invited Lindel, too, but he didn't want to leave the aerie again. He insisted they bring them to him instead, which they promised to do when the children were a few months older.

"Aren't they darling?" Angelica said, looking at Holly sleeping in sixteen-year-old Althea's arms.

"They really are," Stella said, now nineteen, as she tickling Ivy's feet while David held her. The baby cooed at Stella as she did so.

"Ya did good, Chise," Alice said. "You cooked up some real nice babies in there." She poked Chise's stomach, which was now much smaller and thankfully no longer sore.

"That's a weird phrase, Alice, thank you," Chise said.

Renfred had been mostly quiet during the gathering. Alice had told Chise that babies make him nervous; he liked kids better when they were old enough to follow orders.

Elias was similarly uncomfortable with so many people in his house at once, and eventually, it drove him outside to the garden. Cold though it was, he sat at the garden table with his tea and sighed.

"Are they not lovely?" A voice said to him from his right. He turned to see a small, child-like figure standing there nearby. She wore a simple white gown made of thin silk and a crown of baby's breath around her head. A circle of snow underneath her feet had melted away and flowers had sprung up all around her. Her hair was black, her skin like petals, her eyes like the wings of a dragonfly.

"Titania," Elias said, standing. "You've come alone."

"I have, though I shan't be long," She said, her voice belying her youthful appearance. "I bring with me gifts for your little ones."

"Gifts?"

"Yes. The heartache you expressed when last we met has stayed with me. I felt compelled to do something to set your mind at ease." She opened her hands, and lying in each palm was a ring carved of dark wood, one on a gold string, the other on a silver one. "I told you your offspring held my favor, did I not?" She asked. "That was not a lie. You need not worry for their safety from our kind. These will tell all fae creatures that your babes are my godchildren and therefore under my protection."

Elias did not recall agreeing to such an arrangement, but accepted the rings with a bow.

"Thank you, my Lady," He said. "This is most generous."

"You must bring them to visit us, Thorn," Titania said. "It's been so long since there were children in the Faerie Kingdom. Oberon is dying to meet the new magelings."

Elias nodded without speaking, not committing to this. He wondered if her favor extended to not trapping them in the faerie realm.

"Be well, Elias. Take care of our sweet robin and those beautiful children. Dwell no longer on the darkness in your past and look instead to your future. Your legacy now resides in those new souls that you created, and not the mistakes you have made. You have been given a divine gift. Do not take it for granted."

"I assure you, Lady," He said seriously. "I have no intention of doing so."

She smiled at him, and the body she inhabited burst apart into flowers and floated away like the seeds of a dandelion, carried away on a sudden wind that smelled strangely of spring grass.

Elias lifted his gaze to watch the petals drift away, putting the charms in his pocket.

* * *

Once everyone had gone home and the house was quiet again, Elias picked up a wailing Ivy, who quieted immediately, and sat with Ruth and Chise as Silver laid out their dinner. Chise fed Holly with one arm and fed herself with the other. Once Holly finished, Chise passed her to Ruth to be burped and held out her arms for Ivy, who Elias passed carefully over the dinner table. Silver waited at Ruth's elbow with a spit-up cloth. They all seemed to be easing into this new normal well.

Elias and Chise took the children to their room and laid them down for sleep, with Ruth curled up on the floor between them. He was better than a baby monitor. Ruth was taking his oath to Elias to protect the children very seriously and was just as involved in their care as every other person in the house. It seemed there was no shortage of babysitters to be found for the new parents, and Chise found that comforting. The nightmare she'd once had of being overwhelmed with caring for two children at once with limited help faded from her mind.

With the children abed for a least a couple of hours, Elias and Chise took this time to spend with each other, something they hadn't had much opportunity to do since the birth. They sat together on the couch of the sitting room, Chise in Elias's lap and wrapped up warmly in his arms. She was so tired, she could have fallen asleep if she let herself.

"I'm sorry the party got too claustrophobic for you," Chise said, twining and untwining her fingers with his.

"It's all right," Elias said. "I am actually glad for it. I'd much prefer that the girls were introduced to all our friends at once rather than make many trips to achieve the same result." Reaching into his waistcoat's pocket, he pulled out the ring pendants he had gotten. "Besides, while outside, Titania left a give with me."

Chise took the trinkets and looked at them curiously. "That was nice of her. What are they for?"

"Protection, she said. It'll ward off any of her kind that would do them mischief."

Chise smiled. "She's very thoughtful for a fae."

"Yes," Elias agreed. "I wonder if she will extend the same blessing to any additional children we may have."

Chise swung and looked up in surprise. "You want more children?"

"It's not outside the realm of possibility. We can talk about it later," Elias replied.

"You're serious. You really want another baby?"

"I merely said we'd talk about it."

"That's not a no."

Elias laughed.

"Give me a year, at least," Chise said in exasperation. "My body isn't ready for another one so soon."

"If you wish," He said, hugging her tightly.

They sat happily in each other's arms for the next hour, taking a well deserved rest, until one of the babies began to cry. Elias released her and followed her up the stairs to the childrens' room, where he consoled Holly as Ivy fed. When Ivy was done, they switched. After feeding, the infants resumed sleeping. Before they left, Elias affixed the charms to the wall above their bassinets, the silver one over Ivy, and the gold protecting Holly. The parents, exhausted, climbed into their own bed and fell asleep at once.

Every day brought something new, and Elias was learning so much so quickly. His entire universe had shifted, and thought it had taken time to get used to it, he greeted each wonderful development as they happened with an open heart. He awoke eagerly every morning in his new life, looking forward to what might be.


End file.
